Day 212 Retirement party planning and Grand Opening of H3O

Tonight I (Lynn) got together with a couple of friends to plan a retirement party for our friend, Nancy. I cannot believe my friend is of an age to retire. I still feel like I did in my thirties. I am thrilled for my friend. She deserves to be retired and enjoy herself. I hope she has a long, happy retirement.

Tonight before church we went to a grand opening for a small business that a guy in our small group owns. It's called H3O Aquatics. It's a small veteran owned/run business that specializes in water therapy services for those with disabilities of any kind. It's a really cool place. They even have underwater treadmills! 

Day 211 Farmer's market and Sharknado 2

We have several farmer's markets around Knoxville and I (Lynn) have been to the big one down on Market Square. It almost has too much to pick from. I had seen signs for one on the University's Ag campus. It is every Wednesday from 4-7. I kept meaning to stop by. Today I did. It was small but they had some good stuff. Plenty of veggies, but also honey, ground corn meal, meat and flowers. They also had these calzone looking meals. I will go back for sure.

Tonight I watch one of the most horrible created movies I've ever seen. It was on the syfy channel and was called Sharknado 2. Never will I get back the time I lost by watching that movie. It was horrible! 

Day 210 Online FB yard sale post and LGBT rep

Tonight I (Taylor) decided to try to sell some stuff. The need for some extra money is staring me in the face so I figured why not give it a try. I posted some old bridesmaid dresses to see how those did first. I'll keep you posted! 

My first today happened at my Exempt Staff Council meeting. This was my first meeting of my term and they asked for volunteers to attend other meetings held on campus so we can see what other employees are concerned about. I volunteered to attend the LGBT meeting. I hear they are fun.

Day 209 Married at First Sight and new up do

I (Lynn) was waiting for Marian to get home so we could go to dinner and trying to find something to watch while I waited. As I ran through the list of shows I came across this show, Married at First Sight. I had seen the commercials and wondered why would any sane person marry someone they had never met. So I changed the channel to watch. A psychologist, sexologist and spiritologist interviewed a bunch of people and found three couples they felt matched. The couples meet at the altar on the day they get married. Then they honeymoon and live together for four weeks. After that they must decide if they want to stay married or divorce. It is like in the old days where marriages were arranged. It is an extremely interesting show. I cannot wait to see what happens. Would you do it? I think I would have when I was younger since I did not seem to do a good job picking my partners. Now, no because I have no desire to be married. But it might just work.

My (Taylor) first isn't nearly as entertaining. I struggled with today due to a long work day. So I opted to try to find a quick up do for my short hair for work tomorrow. I wanted something cute to get my hair off my neck. Well I found a few options I've never tried so fingers crossed it works in the morning. 

Day 208 Dog wash and new church

Today first was a lot of fun. My sister, Marian saw a place called Pop's Dog Wash while driving down Sutherland Avenue. We have trouble washing our very sweet but stubborn beagle. She has always hated baths. She tries to bite us the entire time and it kills us bending over the bathtub. It has reached the point where I cannot help. Today we took Salem to Pop's for her first visit. The bathing station is elevated so no bending over. Salem stood quietly and let us wash her. It was a great experience for all three of us. We will be going back for sure.

Today Josh and I tried out a new church. He had heard about it from a guy he worked with the night before. Josh was raised in a very southern baptist church and he heard this was similar to that. So he seemed pretty excited about it which made me excited about going. I don't think I was necessarily what either of us expected but something in the message spoke to me enough that during the alter call I got up in front of a big group of strangers and got saved. It was totally out of my comfort zone and to be honest a little embarrassing but I'm glad I did it. I'm not sure we'll go back to the church but at least we can say we've tried out another one. 

Day 207 Facial and Bounce House and Punching Bag

How scary is this? This is me doing a facial from It Works! Made my face feel very soft. But not the most attractive look while it was happening. 

Today I (Taylor) hosted a grand opening family fun day at work. A kid had a bit of an accident in our bounce house so we had to get in and clean it. After cleaning it we had a bit of fun. We also had the national guard there and they had a punching bag there so I took my turn at it. It was pretty embarrassing to say the least. 

Day 206 Art Museum and Sir Pizza (and a surprise birthday date)

Today's first is one of my (Lynn) favorites. During my lunch hour I went to the Knoxville Museum of Art. I wandered around and looked at all the exhibits. It was wonderful. My favorites were the glass exhibit, a tribute to Richard Jolley and an the exhibit of works by artist who were born in Knoxville. It was so relaxing and inspiring. This is something I plan to continue. I love art and envy those who can create it. I cannot wait to go back.

I (Taylor) had planned my first for the day was going to be going to Sir Pizza with Brian, Ashlee, Bryson and Ashlee's parents. So that's what josh and I did. After dinner we headed to CFA so I could show josh what the store looked like after the remodel. When I thought we were going home we ended up going to nashville for a surprise birthday date night to The Opry. The crazy thing about it is that I had told josh I wish we could go when he was working last night. Turns out he had bought the tickets about a month ago! Tonight's lineup included lenon and maisy from the show Nashville, Henry Cho (the comedian), The Band Perry, and Carrie Underwood! I've never been to the Opry at the Opry House so that made it even more special! Such a wonderful night with my love! 

 

Day 205 Ribbon Cutting and class at work

Today we (CFA and I -Taylor) had our ribbon cutting for the reopening of our store. This was my first ribbon cutting and it was an interesting experience being on the setting up side of it. Having to call to get it set up and getting all the food prepared for it. Thankfully it was a big success! I'm pretty proud of all of us at CFA for making this happen! 

Today I (Lynn) took an afternoon class at work. The class was about reports on our financial system. I was hoping for more than I got. Not sure there was much I can use at work but I do love learning new things.

Day 204 New restaurant and Heat and Bond

When you (Lynn) have a very sore shoulder, the task of finding a new seems overwhelming. I took the easy way out - I tried a new place to eat.

The food was just okay. Nothing exciting. I doubt we will go back.

Tonight my (Taylor) quick cheat to create new curtains for work didn't work out well. I tried to use heat and bond and it (to be frank) sucked butt! It didn't stick at all. So I had to sew this set. And with no scissors, that made it a bit difficult, but I managed to get them done. I hope they look good when I put them up tomorrow! 

Day 203 Email change and National Guard award

Since email has existed, and yes I have been around long enough to remember not having it, my email identifier at work says Sykes, Carolyn (Lynn Sykes). I have never gone by Carolyn and I don't like to be called Carolyn. For years I have put up with people not paying attention to my signature on my email and calling me Carolyn. I finally decided to do something about it. I set the wheels in motion to have the Carolyn taken off my email. You would think it would be easy, but not so. First I talked to out OIT department. They sent me to HR. They fixed something and said I now needed to contact the system wide OIT. They sent me to Payroll. That person had left already. So first thing tomorrow I will finish this task. No more Carolyn.

I've (Taylor) built a great relationship with a local NG recruiter. He and I have done a lot for each other. Well today he surprised me with this awesome NG leadership award. I can't even describe how much it touched my heart that he thought of me for this! To make it even better my boss called me and was very proud of me. He even said we could hang the award up at the store! 

Day 202 Balloon Arch Lesson and It Works!

Well we had our First Bite Ceremony and Dinner tonight at work. It was an invite only event for family of our team members before we open the doors to the public. We wanted to amp up the decor in the store so we made some balloon arches. My Operator had informed me he knew how to make arches so he was our teacher. My other marketing director and I gave it a go and it's definitely an interesting task. But we got it done. Definitely need to work on the technique but it wasn't too bad for our first one! 

My son has started selling products that help you be and look healthy. Yesterday I placed my first order. I hope they work. He and his wife certainly look good.

Day 201 Marian driving home and successful steak purchase

After spending the evening in Chattanooga (Lynn)  which included dinner and hanging with Jonas and Keri, we had to come home today. I always drive when we travel. This time we drove Marian's new car since I had to drive my old car to Chattanooga to give to Jonas. Instead of driving Marian's car, I let her drive home. It was nice to let someone else drive.

My Sunday has been very chill. After working Monday - Saturday (and Saturday being a 13 hour day) I needed a day like that to regroup and prepare for the coming week! After running a couple of errands I went grocery shopping. I always make Josh do the steak shopping because I couldn't tell you the difference between any 2 steaks. I've never been a steak eater until I met Josh and he cooked it for me the first time. And still to this day his steaks are the only one I will eat. Well tonight, with the guidance of Josh through text messages, I successfully bought our steaks for dinner tonight :) Nothing big for the day, but I'll take it!

Day 200 New Store Prep and Quilt Shops in Chattanooga

We've made it to the next milestone!! 200 days in the books, and only 165 left to go!

(Taylor) Today we cleaned, unpacked our pods, loaded up the store with a huge truck load of food and supplies, and much much more! Unfortunately, our open date got pushed back to Tuesday because of the gas company. We've got a lot of very sad customers (and team members including myself!) because of the delay. I've never had the opportunity to open up a store so it's definitely a differently experience. I can't wait to see what it looks like when everything is finished and we can open for business!

(Lynn) I spent the day visiting quilt shops in the Chattanooga area. The first one we visited was in Cleveland, which is just outside Chattanooga. It was a nice shop. There was a LOT of stuff in the shop. The second shop was in Ootelwah. This shop was in an old building that had been a pharmacy. Beautiful tin ceiling tiles. This shop was very traditional, which I'm not but the staff was so friendly. As we were driving to this shop, I saw a sign that said "Trespassers will be shot at. No questions asked." That was freaky to say the least. Then we visited four shops in Chattannoga. The first three were not very interesting. The fourth and last one we visited was called Spool. I wish I lived closer to this store. It is fabulous.

This is the entrance. The fabric was modern and bright. LOVE IT!  I will be going back.

Day 199 The Egg and I and Meeting Elsa

I (Lynn) had heard of this restaurant and decided today would be the best day to try it. They only serve breakfast and lunch. I loved when they bring out your drink, they bring you a caraf of more so you can serve yourself. The eggs were the best I have ever tasted. Perfect texture. The bacon was crisp and completely cooked. No raw edges. The waffle was crisp on the outside and tender inside. It was a very delicious lunch. 

Today starts a very busy weekend for myself (Taylor). We are heading into the weekend before we reopen after being closed for a month for a remodel. Part of our marketing campaign was to go to the local YMCA for a special event they were hosting. They were showing the movie Frozen, and Queen Elsa was going to be there. I've actually still not seen the movie Frozen yet, but I was pretty excited to meet the Queen! :) We had a great time with all of the kids that were there for the event and we got to spread the word to a lot of people about our opening next week. 

Here is Cow meeting Elsa (and no, I wasn't the cow!) 

Day 198 IHOP experience and interview

I (Taylor) had a one I a kind experience this morning at IHOP. I'll spare all of the details but to sum it up, I tried to recruit our server to come work for us at Chick-fil-A! He was amazing! Such a delight and he had such a wonderful personality. Unfortunately he's moving in August so he had to turn me down. I've never been so bold so I was pretty proud of myself! But I also branched out in my syrup. I had my usual chocolate chocolate chip pancakes with the regular syrup but towards the end Megan suggested we try the strawberry syrup on them. It actually wasn't too bad. Definitely couldn't handle it the entire meal but that last bite was just enough. 

I (Lynn) was asked to interview a candidate for a job at work. It is the first time I have been asked to interview I was not hiring. It sure takes the pressure off. 

Day 197 Chocolate Truffle cupcake and Sam's Trivia night

Tonight at my (Lynn) fiber art chicks meeting, one of the girls brought chocolate truffle cupcakes. I had never heard of them, but I gave them a try. They were pretty good.

Tonight josh and I (Taylor) met up with on of Josh's friends at a local sports bar to play trivia. I've never played trivia before but it was a lot of fun. We came in third place and first place and got some gift cards to use later! I also found a beer that I could tolerate and not hate! All in all it wa a successful night! 

Day 196 cornbread and unplanned dinner with friend

Anyone who knows me knows I love cornbread. But I figured out tonight that I REALLY love sweet cornbread. I like the plain ole cornbread you normally think of but sweet cornbread is my go to. Josh made some homemade cornbread tonight and he just went crazy over it. While I enjoyed it, I definitely missed the sweetness. But I do love how much he loves to cook homemade food. 

Anyone who knows me (Lynn) knows I over plan my life. I seldom have a free evening. I just seem to always have something to do. Late this afternoon a friend called, out of the blue, and said how about dinner tonight? Luckily I had no plans, so I met her for dinner. It was great! I should do this more often but that will probably never happen again - me with a night off and a friend wants to meet for dinner.

Day 195 Retitle car and new fried rice

Instead of trading in my (Lynn) car when I bought a new one, I decided to give my old one to my son. I did research on how to change the name on my car title. I thought I had it figured out. When I went today, I was told my son had to be with me. The lady was nice and told me he could do it in Alabama. So I will give him the paperwork on Saturday when I see him. I guess research is not always complete. I should have called.

So I've got a couple of firsts I could pull from for today but I'll stick with the most non disgusting option. Tonight I got to pick my nephew up from daycare and watch him until his mom got home. She had bought a frozen chicken fried rice meal from SAMs club for me to make us for dinner. I had a bite and it was delicious! May have to find some of that for josh and I for a quick dinner every once in a while! 

Day 194 Christmas ornaments and new restaurant (and goats milk)

Today I (Lynn) started working on the fabric ornaments for my Fantasy of Trees tree. I was a little nervous about it. I have watched a You Tube video a few times to see how they are made. I got three done today.

I have tons more to make but I got a good start.

Today I headed down to waynesboro to spend the day Josh's family. When we got there we went to eat at a restaurant called the wagon wheel. It wasn't good. The waitress seemed to be the dumbest person I've ever met. Some of our orders were wrong. It just wasn't a good experience at all. When we got home josh broke open his goats milk I bought him yesterday at the market. So I took a sip. Way to thick for me. You could even taste what we decided were curds. Heck no! Thankfully josh didn't hate it so I didn't waste our money on it. 

Day 193 Yard Sale and Uncle Dave Macon Days

Today's first for me (Lynn) was a yard sale. I don't do yard sales. There are a number of reasons. I don't collect things. I don't really need anything. I find it uncomftable digging through people's junk. A friend of mine was having a sale at her parent's house. I went to support her. It was a hard day since she was selling her parent's estate. I did buy a couple of things. Last week I broke my hoe, so I bought one at the yard sale plus a couple of other outdoor tools. It will be nice to use tools that belonged to two people I really liked.

This morning Jess and I headed to the Saturday market on the square that runs through October. I picked up a couple of things. After that we headed over to Uncle Dave Macon Days. It's a big bluegrass festival with lots of clogging. We walked aroun and looked at all of the vendors, had a grilled cheese from the Grilled Cheesery food truck and watch lots of clogging. We even ran into Forrest Gump! We ended up going to visit baby Mallory, Mandy and Andy and then headed to a new Chinese restaurant we hadn't been to before, Mr. Chens. It was actually pretty tasty. 

Day 192 New Author and no social media

Today i(Lynn) started and finished a book by a new author. The way I found out about the book happened in a different way. I am a member of the website Goodreads. If you are a reader you need to join. It allows you to keep a list of the books you read. You can also be friends with people you know and authors you like. You get to see what your friends are reading, hear about new releases, read reviews and they have discussions with writers. A woman I know from the gym sent me a message on Goodreads and recommended I read the latest book by a writer from East Tennessee. I downloaded the book from Amazon because I feel strongly about supporting local artist especially when they are just starting out. The book is a romance and seems to be written for college age people. I did not think I would enjoy it but was determined to read it. I LOVED IT!!!   It is about a 22 year old senior in college who hates the military because her father died while serving in the army before she was born. This was not a sappy love story though. It is beautifully written and has a great story line. Taylor, I believe you would love this book. Here is the cover. Read this book. 

It definitely looks like something I (Taylor) would enjoy! My first today was VERY difficult for me. I have a horrible habit of being totally addicted to social media. I go on FB, twitter and Instagram all the time. Sometimes without even realizing I'm doing so. I saw a video last night abou putting your phone down and being a part of the world again. So I tried it today. I didn't enjoy that break at all! Definitely glad to over. 

Day 191 Meeting baby Mallory and evening in Gatlinburg

Tonight Jess and I (Taylor) got to go meet the newest addition to our group :) we got to meet baby Mallory! Mom and baby are doing wonderfully and Mallory is absolutely adorable. She has a head full of dark brown hair and the longest lashes I've seen on a newborn. Dad is doing well too but just like mom, he's exhausted. I can't wait to get to spoil this sweet little girl! 

I also tried Josh's broccoli and cheese. Still not the biggest fan. It wasn't as bad as I remember but I may have to force myself to try broccoli many more times before I'll end up liking it.  

I don't know about you, but I (Lynn) tend to stay in my little area of town. I eat at the same places, shop at the same places and stay in my small "space". I am very fortunate to live 45 minutes from the Smoky Mountain National Park. It never occurred to me to go up after work. Tonight I did. I heard through social media that Gatlinburg was having local entertainers perform on the main drag on Thursday through Sunday all summer long. So after work, sister Marian and I went to Gatlinburg. Along the way we discussed places we plan to visit for more first. Once in town we parked, walked to our favorite Gatlinburg eatery, Benton's BBQ, and had dinner. Afterward we wandered the street enjoying blue grass music and clogging. We had the best time! The entertainers were amazing and we got to see one of my favorites, Emisunshine and the Rain. If you have never heard of them, you can find them on YouTube and ITunes. Such talent.

Day 190 Happy Birthday Mallory and tree limb

Today is a big day in my group of best friends. It's the day we got to welcome a sweet baby girl to the world. This is the first baby in our group. You definitely realize you're growing up when you're surrounded by babies but especially when one of your closest friends has a baby.

Welcome to the world Mallory! 

I am very happy for Mallory and her parent's. My first is not as good. I (Lynn) was sitting watching the news after work. It had been pouring rain for a while and there were a few rumbles of thunder. But suddenly the house shook. I thought it was caused by the big rumble of thunder and lightening. A couple hours later Marian went to the back door to let the dog out and we discovered a huge limb from our neighbor's tree had fallen on our roof. 

Not a great first.

Day 189 New knitting stitches and new game app

Today was my (Lynn) second, and last knitting class. I learned how to decrease, increase and bind off.

I love learning new things. I never would have decided to learn to knit if not for my first "yarn crawl" (day 158). I feel in love with all the yarn and those special yarns work better knitting rather than crochet. Here is my first finished knitting project. 

Here is the project I started today.

I struggled hard with what to do today. I've been exhausted the last couple of days so I decided to hunt through the App Store to find a game. The game I settled on is called two fingers one game. If you get flustered and frustrated easily I would highly discourage you from downloading the app. Basically you have to play 2 different games at the same time. My brain apparently doesn't work well while concentrating on 2 different things at the same time. I only played or a couple of times before I gave up. 

Day 188 1st Row by row block and new fried chicken

Beginning July 1st and going through September, the quilting community is having a row by row shop hop. I (Lynn) heard about it from my sister, Marian who heard about it from some of the vendors at our guild's quilt show. There are thousands of shops nationwide participating. What you do is go to the participating shops and pick up a "row" they have designed. Each shop's row must be based on a season. There is a website where you can view the stores by state and each store has a Facebook page. I have gone to two local stores and gotten a row and Taylor picked me up one (see day 184). Tonight I made my first row.

Still needs some embellishments but it is cute. 

Tonight I (Taylor)  managed to get josh to wash dishes AND make dinner :-) he made his usually fried chicken nuggets but this time he made them with a new recipe. He put almost 1/2 cup of Texas Pete hot sauce in the batter. Now if you know me you know I don't do hot stuff so he was terrified I wasn't going to like it. Thankfully you couldn't taste the hot sauce. Turns out he was supposed to put a full cup! I definitely don't think I would have enjoyed that chicken. I love that I have such a talented chef of a husband!! 

Day 187 phone holder and apple cinnamon pancakes

A couple of weeks ago some friends and I went quilt shop shopping. While we were there, we saw these really cute telephone holders. They could be used for sewing also. They were only $2 and included the fabric and the pattern. The pattern is actually an interfacing that you press onto the fabric that has the sewing lines on it. My friend Carol got one for her soon to be daughter in law. She has not sewn much so she asked for my help. I needed to make one before I could show her how. That is trying for me. I have a hard time following directions. I think it is because I read so much and when I read I skim so I tend to do that with directions. I have to make myself concentrate when I am reading directions and not skip ahead. Here is what I made. I think it turned out cute.

My (Taylor) first was a bit of a flop. I was really craving some pancakes before church so I went pinterest-ing and found an apple cinnamon pancake recipe. The recipe called for applesauce and I had recent bought some. Well apparently some things on the top shelf of our fridge freeze. And that's what happened to my applesauce. So I just had cinnamon pancakes that were made with whole wheat flour and almond milk among other things. I've decided no matter how many different ways I try, I just can't stand whole wheat flour. It's awful in my opinion. So my breakfast wasn't very successful. 

Day 186 The Normal Heart and Sky High

I was trying (Lynn) to find something to watch while I continued to work on the scarf I am trying to knit. I came across a movie "The Normal Heart". I had never heard of it. It is about the HIV-AIDS crisis in New York City between 1982 and 1985. The main character is Ned Weeks the gay founder of a HIV advocacy group. It was powerful! It was originally a play by Larry Kramer. I cannot tell you how moved I was by this movie. It is a shame that many people had to die before something was done to fund research on this deadly disease. It really makes you see how a group can be ignored just because people are small minded and afraid.

After a late night I was exhausted. Didn't been want to get out of bed at 8am! But we had plans for some fun this morning. We headed to Sky High Nashville with Brian, Ashlee and Bryson. Sky High is an indoor trampoline park. An absolute blast for sure! 

This is one of my favorite pictures. Bryson was jumping to josh into the foam pit. 

Josh was like a little kid! He's doing a front flip into the foam pit! 

 

Day 185 July 4th

Happy July 4th!!!

I went to Norris, Tennessee today. The local quilt guild, Bits and Pieces, has a show on July 4th every year. I know several members of the group since they belong to my guild. The show was in a church right on the square downtown. The quilt show was small but there were some lovely quilts. After that we wandered down on the square. The first thing we saw was a slip and slide for the kids. Then lots of awnings under which local politicians were vying for votes. We got to see tons of kids on their decorated bikes racing for blue ribbons. We stopped by the library where they were selling off old books. It was stepping back in time. What a great way to celebrate the 4th.

Today was a fun filled day for Josh and I. We got to spend the afternoon with his brother and sister-in-law and our nephew, Bryson. We had some delicious food and lots of laughs. After some time with them cooking out and some fireworks with them we headed to Nashville to see the 2nd best firework show in the states. Little did we know we would be among a lot of other people trying to head downtown. We ended up being stuck ok traffic for 3 hours and we had to watch the fireworks in a dead stop on the interstate. Definitely a first for me! 

Day 184 Dickson, TN and new license plate

I (Taylor) had a lot of errands to run today. I had a few for work, and Mom had asked me to run to Dickson to a little quilt shop that is participating in a thing called the Row by Row experience. I've never been to Dickson, and it definitely wasn't what I expected. I was expecting this small southern town with not much of anything. That's definitely not what I got! There was so much traffic there I was a bit overwhelmed! And it was the middle of the afternoon! But it was a nice little trip. Here is a picture of the pattern I got to pick up for Mom to complete. I think it's pretty cute!! (It's a guitar!)

Something weird happening here...I wrote my first for today and it disappeared. First let me say thanks to Taylor for getting me that block. I cannot wait to make it. Now on to my first. I had a super busy day at work so my first had to be easy. I was stumped until I got home and saw the mail. My new license plate had arrived. So I put my new plate on my new car. Now I have to try and memorize it which get harder as I get older.

Day 183 Bravo! and Jamberry Nails

I was stumped for a first today. (Lynn) I settled for a new restaurant. We'll it isn't new, but I have never been there. It is an Italian place.

I had the pizza. Marian had the lasagna. The food was pricey but delicious. We will return but I think next time we will split an entree and maybe get some dessert. The creme brûlée looked yummy and is a favorite of mine.

I held off on my first until really late. Which wasn't very wise for the project I did for my first. In preparation for the 4th of July, I decided I would try my Jamberry Nail wraps that I purchased last month. It wasn't the most difficult thing I've done, but it definitely wasn't the easiest. I'm hoping that with more practice I'll like them more, but I'm still not 100% sold. I think I would rather just have my nails painted. 

Day 182 Knitting lesson and Rita's Italian Ice

Today's first for me (Lynn) was a knitting lesson. I have tried in the past to teach myself to knit and failed miserably so I decided to actually take lessons. I had a great time and I felt like I learned a lot. Here is what I did in class.

Once I got home I ripped that out and started over so I could make sure I remembered how to cast on. Purling is still a challenge but it is getting easier. 

Today's first for me (Taylor) was having some Italian ice at Rita's on Market Square. I've passed by the place many times, but I've never actually stopped in and had any. Mom got done with her knitting class early so she and I went downtown to eat and did a little shopping. It was a HOT day so we stopped for some Italian Ice. I had the Chocolate Chocolate Chip. It was DELICIOUS!

Oh, and I got my very first pair of Chacos!!