Day 150 Apple TV rental and Awkward Moment

My first today was a twofer. My sweet son and his lovely wife gave my sister and me an Apple TV for Christmas. Today we used it to rent a movie - a first. The movie we rented was Xmen: First Class. My sister is a fan of the series. I had not seen any of them. The only comic book movie series I always watch are the Iron Men because they are funny. I enjoyed the Xmen though. I think Marian suggested this because she needs someone to go see the new Xmen movie with her.  I enjoyed it enough to pay to see the new one.

Tonight Jess and I had a date night. She picked up some little ceasars and a movie with zac efron in it. Something like the awkward moment I believe was the name of it. It wasn't horrible but it wasn't a movie I would watch again. 

Day 149 Weaving and breakfast cookie

When I vacationed in New Orleans, we visited the WWII museum. I purchased a weaving loom there. I would love to learn to weave but don't really have the time right now so I thought I would try this. The instructions were horrible. It took two of us figure it out and it was very difficult. But here is what I have done so far.

Last night I decided to try some "clean eating" breakfast cookies. I looked up a recipe and thankfully had everything I needed (bananas, oats, honey, PB, and cinnamon). So I whipped them up and tried some this morning. They kind of remind me of no bake cookies (or dookie patties as we call them back home) but with no chocolate haha! They're actually pretty good though!

Day 148 fresh peaches

Tonight I (Taylor) decided to freeze some fresh peaches My sister in law gave josh and I. We were given about 10-15 peaches and I knew we wouldn't eat all of them before they went bad. So I decided to freeze some for some smoothies later! They're delicious and I can't wait to try them in some smoothies.

I was talking to Taylor about her freezing of the peaches. That brought up the subject of eating a fresh peach which neither of us had done. So while shopping I picked up a fresh peach to try. It was not my favorite but canned peaches are not my favorite either. But I tried it so my first for the day.

 

Day 147 New Jazz group and commitment

Tonight I (Lynn) went downtown to Market Square to see a new jazz group. It is a bigger group then usually play. Unfortunately, just as it started a thunder storm came up. Since it was outside, we came home. I enjoyed their warm up though.

Tonight I committed to something I had said I would never do again. White water rafting. I'm not overly excited about our family trip rafting but I know mom is excited and I guess I need to get over my fear of it and just do it. 

Day 146 Hoaders and Memorial Day event

Today I (Lynn) spent most of the morning watching "Hoarders". It was fascinating and horrible at the same time. We are all just one tragic event away from despair.

This afternoon, I got to spend time with representatives from the sons of the American revolution, Boyscouts of America, A Soldiers Child and the TN National Guard. We had a special flag retirement ceremony for one of our old flags and we held a fundraiser for A Soldiers Child. It was a very special experience and ceremony. I got to learn exactly how old flags are properly retired and disposed of. 

Day 145 Salad at TGIFridays and meeting our biggest donor

Tonight we met up with Josh's brother, his wife and their son Bryson for dinner. I wasn't overly hugry so I opted for a salad. The salad I had was a pecan crusted chicken salad with cranberries and pecans on it. SO delicious!! 

Today was the final day of the Quilt show and we had a special guest - our biggest sponsor, Hobbs Bonded Fiber VP, Bill Neal, came to the show. I had talked to him through email since Hobbs agreed to be our sponsor. I was very excited he was coming all the way from Texas to see our show. I was nervous about meeting him but he was very nice. We are lucky, they have agreed to sponsor us for the next few years.

Day 144 Small quilt sold and bad lifetime movies

Every year as part of our quilt show, guild member make small quilts to sell at the show. This helps pay for our charity work. I have made quilts in the past and a couple have been purchased by friends and family members. They were all priced under $20. This is the quilt I made this year.

The ladies in charge of small quilts priced my quilt at $60 which was way too high in my opinion.  The quilts were not selling so the women in charge asked to lower the prices. The practice in the past had been to put the quilts on sale on Sunday. The committee had voted not to do this anymore because many members found it insulting. My co-chair and I agreed to the drop in price as long as the prices were changed completely. They could not just mark through the original price.  We agreed because we felt the prices were too high to start with. The point to this long story is that before they could get back and reprice mine, it was sold for $60. I was shocked. And it was not anyone I knew. What a pleasant surprise.

Today was a day that I had planned to surprise josh by taking him to the reinassance festival we have here every year. Now I say surprise because I know he wouldn't agree to go if I asked him so I was going to have to drag him there without him knowing where we were going. Well a change of plans happened so I spent the day watching horrible lifetime movies. Both of which were about missing teens. Horrible I tell you. But they were like train wrecks. You just couldn't look away!

Day 143 quilt give back envelopes and rotisserie chicken

Today was the first day the Quilt Show was open. I spent the morning preparing the "give back" envelopes. When the entrants arrive Sunday to pick up their quilts, we give them an envelope with the judge's comments, a show book, a list of the winners, their ribbon if they won one and their check. I stuffed those today. I have never been involved in giving back the quilts because I have always been busy with other duties. So my first today was preparing the giveback envelopes.

I've (taylor) had my fair share of chicken. It's probably one of my favorite foods along with shrimp. I mean come on I work at Chick-fil-A for goodness sakes. I will say, I don't believe I've ever had rotisserie chicken from a grocery store deli. So that's what was for dinner tonight. It was quick and cheap but definitely on the bottom of my chicken list. 

Day 142 Rash and Jennifer Chiaverini

I (Taylor) have apparently developed some sort of rash all over my body. The only "rash" I've ever had that I recall is chicken pox. This rash is awful and it's from head to toe on me. I don't know if it's a heat rash or some kind of allergic reaction. But this sure isn't flattering looking at all!

My first today began a few weeks ago. One of my favorite authors, Jennifer Chiaverini posted on Facebook that she was going to be in Knoxville during the month of May and asked if she should have a book signing. I was so excited that I commented and said yes. I also gave her the name of my favorite  locally owned bookstore, Union Avenue Books. She took that advise and tonight she was at my favorite bookstore. She read a passage from her latest release, answered questions and then she signed our books. She was delightful! Funny and personable. I had the best time. Mom went with me and she also had a great time. So my first was helping one of my favorite authors appear at my favorite bookstore and I got to meet her.

My signed copy of her latest book.

Day 141 Sound system and pressure fryer

Today I (Lynn) learned how to use the sound system at the college where we are having the Quilt Show. Not everyone is happy that we will be playing music, but music makes people happy.

So I (Taylor) must first say happy 3 year wedding anniversary to my husband! 

The day started off as it normally would. We were super busy at work because there are a lot of state tournaments being held in Mboro this week. In the middle of lunch rush one of our pressure fryers malfunctioned causing a huge flame burst. It was the scariest thing I've experienced. We had to shut down the store for a few hours because of it. Thankfully there wasn't any major damage and none of our team members were seriously injured. It could have been a lot worse for sure. 

Day 140 Quilt guarding and hiding in an army "box"

Quilt show - day 2. Today was the first day of judging. I do not like to watch the judging of my quilts. I find all things I make very personal. Hearing someone talk about my quilts makes me so uncomfortable. I agreed to read the names of the quilts but when I got there they really needed someone to sit in the holding room and guard the quilts not being judged. So that is what I did. I got some reading done, had some nice long conversations with people I did not know very well and refilled a lot of quilts. It was a nice day. I am not a big talker but it was nice to learn more about these women I only see once a month. So my first today was guarding the quilts. 

My (Taylor) first today is a very odd and off the wall one. Josh unloaded his truck tonight from his drill weekend and I notice this large brown rectangular bag. It's a pretty stiff bag and seems pretty sturdy. After asking him what it was he causally mentioned they stuck a guy in it this weekend. Challenge accepted!! I wanted to get him. Unfortunately I'm a woman with hips and weigh a bit more than this skinny soldier did. So although I fit inside I couldn't get zipped up in it. Weird, yes. I know 😉

Day 139 quilt category and sinus pain

My first (Lynn) this week will center around my guild's quilt show. As one of the show co-chairs, my entire life will be the show this week. Today my job was to help make sure the quilts had been entered into the correct category. It is important because a quilt in a wrong category will cause the judge to not pick it for a ribbon.

Today's first for me (Taylor) wasn't a fun one. I had some serious (stop you dead in your tracks) sinus pain! It was in the top part of my nose. I've seriously never experienced anything like that. But to cheer things up a bit, my SIL her boyfriend and her baby (my nephew) are here tonight with us! So I get to love all over sweet baby tylen! 

Day 138 Newspaper article and church outside

I (Lynn) was interviewed a couple of weeks ago by a reporter from The Maryville Daily Times about our quilt show. Today the article came out. I am quoted throughout the article and the quilt pictured was mine.  I am famous! Lol

If you look at me (Taylor) tonight you would without a doubt tell me I had been out in the sun today. And that would be a true statement. This morning we had church outside all thanks to a special visit from Angus Buchan. Angus is amazing and he brings a large following. So church was moved outside. We had a mixture of sun and clouds throughout the entire service but I sure did get some sun! Here is a shot from where we sat. 

And here is a shot of some awesome clouds. You can't really tell but how the sun was peeking thru it caused a red white and blue effect on the cloud. 

Day 137 PJs all day and strawberry banana bread

Today was my (Lynn) day to try and get everything ready for the quilt show. It is not unusual for me to spend the day at home in my pajamas but today I actually went out in them. Went to the bank, Marian's office and the Chinese restaurant for food. All in my Pjs. I just could not spare the time to put on clothes.

Tonight I (Taylor) decided to do some bakin. We still had about half our bucket of strawberries left from last weekend and 4 very ripe bananas that needed to be used before they went to waste. So I opted to make some strawberry banana bread. It's still cooking in the oven (at 11pm central time). To say I'm exhausted after working so much this week is an understatement. But I'm really excited to see how the loaves turned out. I made one for our friends Christina and Chuy and then one for josh and I that has chocokate chips in it! Yum yum!! 

Day 136 LV softball game and Special Olympics opening ceremonies

Tonight after work I (Lynn) attended my First Lady Vols Softball game. It was fun but freezing since we are having a cold snap. They won!

Tonight I (Taylor) headed to lipscomb with a couple of other CFA people to work the opening ceremonies for Special Olympics TN. It was such a humbling experience to see all of the athletes so excited about the games starting. We were joined by a herd of cows to help kick off the ceremonies! 

Day 135 new color of toe nail polish and farewell to Christina

It is not a big thing but I needed a first so when I got my pedicure today I went in a different direction for me. The woman doing my pedicure was surprised. After one coat, you could not really tell I had polish on. We both decided two coats made it look good though. I still prefer stronger color but this will do.

If you're a Grey's fan, you know what I'm talking about. Tonight was the end of an era in one of my very favorite shows: Grey's anatomy. It was a very sad show since Christina said fair well. But it sure was a fabulous episode and had a huge twist at the end!! Can't wait for next season! 

Day 134 Flaringitis and class for work

Well I (Taylor) had somewhat of a day off today. I did some work, but being sick and not being scheduled to work a position in the store, I took full advantage of the day and slept in and then went to the doctor. Now, I was convinced that as a child I had strep throat all the time. According to Mom (that confirmed it with Aunt Mary) I never had strep. I guess I just remember some really bad sore throats as a child. And even worse, the strep test! Well today I was diagnosed with flaringitis which is apparently swollen tonsils, but it's not the strep kind. So I got prescribed an antibiotic to take for 10 days. No biggie right? WRONG! These pills are freaking horse pills! It hurts to swallow spit. What makes them think it's smart to give someone with a sore throat horse pills?? Crazy to me!

I am sorry poor Taylor does not feel good. It is so hard on a Mom when one of her babies is sick. Feel better soon baby girl! I spent two hours in class today learning how to buy things at work. I know nothing about purchasing but I am trying to learn because it will make me better at my job.

Day 133 Celebrity sighting and humvee ride

Tonight I went to Jazz on Market Square. (Lynn)  I have always enjoyed going and tonight they had a surprise opening act...a local middle school jazz band. They were wonderful! Such talent. While the main act was on jazz legend, Donald Brown showed up. I was thrilled. Of course, I knew he lived here. He teaches jazz piano at UTK but in all the years he had lived here I have never seen him. It made the night special. I never run into celebrities, ever. But tonight I did. Awesome first.

I must say, I'm pretty pumped about my first. Still feeling sick I was not overly thrilled working a 12+ hour day. We had kids night and one of the vehicles we had at our touch a truck night was an army humvee. At the end of the event I asked my recruiter friend if I could just sit in it. And he said why don't you take a ride! Being married to an army nation guardsman you'd think I would have experience. But nope. First ride ever! It was the coolest thing!! 

Day 132 ice cream and wings

When my kids were young, we would go to Kay's ice cream. The kids always got superman ice cream.  I have not been in there in many years. Today I went in, but I settled on mint chocolate chip. Brought back a lot of good memories.

So I (Taylor) hate bone in wings. Heck I hate anything I have to chew off a bone (ribs, wings, etc). Well josh decided to give smoked wings a try. So he concocted 3 different flavors and smoked them on the grill. Had I felt better I would have 100% eaten all of the wings on his plate. But yet again, here I am sick. But my first = actually enjoying and not being grossed out by eating food off a bone!

Day 131 Strawberry muffins and wrong movie

This morning before church I woke up to make homemade strawberry muffins. I mixed all of my ingredients and cut up some fresh stamrawberries we picked yesterday. I must say they turned out pretty delicious. 

Taylor's muffins look yummy. My first happened by accident. I wanted to see the Johnny Depp movie. I got the title wrong and ended up buying tickets to the wrong movie. Went to do a little shopping before the movie started and realized I had the wrong movie. Thankfully they gave me my money back.

Day 130 Antique store and strawberry picking

You know how you drive by a store a hundred times and think, "What a cute store. I should stop." But you never do it. On the way to Mom's and Taylor's, there is a store called Rocking Horse Antique Gallery. Every time I go by, I say I want to stop. Today I was meeting Taylor and Jess to give Jess her quilts so I went early and stop by this store. They had some really cute things and the prices were reasonable. I even bought something.

I (Taylor) told you my first today was exciting. At least for me. Josh and I went this morning to a local farm called Batey's Farm. They have a field of strawberries that you can go pick from yourself. They provide the bucket for you and you pay by the pound. Here are a few countries from the adventure. 

Day 129 quilts done and sleep

A couple of years ago ( yes I said a couple) Taylor's best friend, Jessica ask me for a favor. Her Grandfather passed away and she wanted me to take his clothes and make some quilts for her, her Mother and other members of her family including her sister. It took a little while to decide on patterns. Her Mother and sister picked a tradition nine patch while Jess picked a pattern with a more modern feel. Jess is using hers as a wall hanging. Just as we settled on patterns we jumped into the middle on a huge house renovation so a year passed before we could unpack our sewing machines and get started. Marian and I both cut up shirts then Marian took that and cut our fabric into the sizes we needed. (We had to draw out the patterns, too.)  We used the pants as the binding. A special pair of pants we cut into hearts for the label. This is the first time I had taken on a project of this magnitude. We made 7 quilts in all. Here they are. (Jess's is above.)

The label: 

So in love with these quilts and I (Taylor) haven't even seen them in person. 

I'm writing this on Saturday... My first yesterday was how I slept. I've spent nights asleep on our couch before but last night I literally slept the entire time (from about 9:30-4:30) without waking up once. All while josh was up and down the entire time and while he plaed halo. Now if you know him and how he plays he yells a lot. So that was a pretty impressive task for me. Wait until you see my first for day 130!! 

Day 128 Draft Party and Car Loan

I've (Taylor) seen drafts on tv but never been to a draft party. Tonight we headed to LP Field for the Titans season ticket holder draft party. Josh had me running all over the stadium but we had a really good time. Here is a snapshot of our night. 

Lynn here. Today I investigated a car loan through my credit union. I have never done that. I always went through the car dealership. Looking forward to getting a new car. 

Day 127 Spamalot and new ab machine

Tonight I (Lynn) saw Spamalot at the Clarence Brown Theater. It was so funny. Loved it! Probably the best production they have ever done.

Tonight I did day 2 of the Couch to 5k and I wanted to do some abs since I did legs and arms last night. I tried out this little ab swinging contraption. You put your arms on these pad, hold on to the handle bars, and you sit with your knees on this pad. Connected to the bottom of the pad are free weights. You swing your legs forward and backward using your abs. You can also do your obliques by swinging to the left or right. It was pretty cool. 

Day 126 training session and Quilt Show ribbon

Tonight I had a free training session set up at my new gym. I'll say I'm glad it was free because it sure was a big waste of my time! After he talked to me about my past experience in the gym and my goals he set up a plan for me. Well he showed me one exercise and went and talked to some other client so I was left by myself for a bit. I never saw the actual plan but I got to do some weights which I haven't done in a while so that was nice. Glad to be back in the gym though!

This is the ribbon I made for our quilt show. Tonight was the first time I got to see it completely finished. I made the round part at the top and then someone else in the guild put it all together. I think it turned out nicely.

Day 125 New App and Mexican food

This week's first are going to have to be easy and quick. I am under deadline to finish 7 quilts by Saturday. I have the binding on four, so hopefully it will all get done. Anyway today I downloaded the Couch to 5K app today. I have used the program but never the app. I think the app will make it easier to start the program again. I need to get my running time back up so I can run a 1/2 marathon hopefully this fall.

I (Taylor) downloaded the app as well, but I've used a form of it before when training. It definitely takes the guess work out of the timing for the running vs walking since it tells you. You can listen to music and it will chime in and tell you what to do. Very cool! 

Now on to my first. Mexican food isn't a first. I love Mexican so I eat it often. My first tonight was enjoying some delicious home made (by josh) enchiladas. They were DELICIOUS!! 

Day 124 New Blizzard flavor and lessons in pork

Today my sisters and I met Mom at the Dairy Queen. I decided to try a new blizzard flavor - mint Oreo. It was yummy. I had to do something easy. I am trying to finish seven quilts by Friday.

Tonight, josh and I were watching pit masters while eating dinner. The 3 competitors were all from the middle and west Tennessee area so we were pretty excited. What I learned: pork butt is not the actual butt of a pig. It's in the neck area. BBQ is made from pork butt. I'm glad to know I've not been eating actual butt of a pig though! 

Day 123 Nashville craft fair and Raffle tickets

After a 4am wake up call to do a delivery for work, I (Taylor) headed to my sororities 45 anniversary brunch. Then came my first. Jess, her sister Amanda and I headed to centennial park to the Nashville craft fair. I'll just say this, we were all way too poor to afford anything there. We also decided we need to take up crafting ugly things or photography to make our money! I will say this, it was a beautiful day to be outside though! 

Here is a small section of the booths. 

My first today was selling raffle tickets at the Quilter's Road Show. The QRS is held each year at the Heritage Center in Townsend, TN. People bring in their antique quilts and they are evaluated and put on the quilt index. I have been there the last three or four years but this was the first time I sold tickets. It was a fun day and I met a lot of interesting people.

Day 122 Portfolio and Jersey Boys

Being an advertising major, I've made my fair share of portfolios. But this week I was tasked with making a portfolio to help aid in the decision process of us getting the second store coming to Murfreesboro. Needless to say this was a big deal. My first real "big" portfolio challenge. It took a lot of work and time and help from one of my coworkers but I think it turned out well. 

I saw the Jersey Boys tonight. It is the story of the Four Seasons. It was wonderful!!!!!  Loved it so much.

121 Volunteer Knoxville and Your Pie

The Knoxville Tourism Board offers a program where you can sign up as a volunteer. As they get request for volunteers from the community, they send out emails and you can volunteer. I signed up. Looking forward to my first time volunteering.

Tonight before church we headed to a new restaurant called Your Pie. I had heard of it but never tried it. We'll put it this way... It's basically like subway but for pizza. It was absolutely delicious! Looking forward to going back again soon!