Dadgum Maw Maw

A heartbreaker...Deacons lose to BC in OT on a fumble from Riley after coming back to tie it up with 1:53 left. Dadgum Maw Maw.

Glee

By far, the best new show on TV this season is Glee - a musical sitcom. It's dark, clever, and packed with sarcasm. Plus it has show tunes and a group called the "acafellas" - hahaha. I know that one of the reasons I love this show is my secret desire to perform in musicals again. BTW when I asked David why I'm not in musicals, he replied, "because you're that good?" Ouch. Whatevs, Dave, I can sing loud and proud with the best of them.

Anyhoo, even my friends who don't love the musicals love this show. This may be my new Grey's...

Watch the extended trailor below and sing your heart out:

Watching Wake beat Elon with Super Fan...

Photo Booth

One of our favorite parts of ellen and john's wedding was the Photo Booth - the following pictures are a sample. My fav is the sassy bridesmaids shot and jazz hands with ellen and dad.

Sadly, I can't publish our marital attempt as it borders on the inappropriate! Hehe.

Who knew...

...that hominy is maize (I thought that only existed in the 1700s) and that a new real simple soup recipe would call for it.

Thank goodness for Wikipedia.

The recipe is delish - check it out copying the link below:

http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/chicken-posole-00000000020559/index.html

What do parents and teachers do at open house?

one of my student's answers:

Comptrollers Cup 2009

Click here to view these pictures larger

Comptrollers Cup 2009 Commentary

This labor marked the sixth year that Dave and the brothers Rietz have rendezvoused to compete for the illustrious Comptroller Cup. While I gather this year was filled with a bit more drama than previous years, I think the tradition is fabulous and precious.

This year, the boys played in Whispering Pines - the spot where their grandparents Nana and Pop Pop lived their retirement years. I think the goal was to get on the courses they were never allowed to play as little kids. Hehe.

Grandma, Carolyn, and Chuck journeyed down from Asheville for Monday for brunch at the Tavern and catching up.

Here's to many more years of playing for the Cup...

The return of the Deacons...

Yesterday we journeyed to Winston for the first time to kick off our season of football fanning for our Deacons. Carolyn and Chuck drove up with us and, though last week was our home opener, we considered this week the Deacons' real beginning. After our disappointing outing with Baylor last week, this week the Deacs finally got it together in the 2nd half to defeat the Stanford Cardinal 24-17. Here we go Deacons!






Another highlight was getting to see sweet Monica at the game, her sweet Deacon tat, and her meet her family - most importantly her precious little niece, Lucy. Mon and company were in town with her brother PJ - a fellow Deacon.

On the way home, we started talking about the Stanford mascot and what in the world was up with that Tree of theirs ... Wikipedia has a great entry below for those are interested in a fascinating story of an even more fascinating mascot...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_Tree

Weekend with Dad

I had a fab Labor Day weekend in Charlotte with my dad whilst David was away with his brothers. We had a weekend of adventuring - the highlight of which was spending Saturday at the US National Whitewater Center. We ended up tackling the "Climb to Zip" and the "Mega Zip" courses as well as the adventure rafting. Let me tell you, the rafting trip is not for the faint of heart!

Our trip was exciting, to say the least! One of the "worst tips" our guide had ever seen. Awesome. We flipped coming through the competition rapids and all 7 in our boat were pitched out. Dad got pinned under a few boats before making it to the surface and I got pulled into an eddy and smooshed to the corner. At one point, I saw our guide jump between three boats trying to get to everyone - yikers.

Apparently, flipping where we did hardly ever happens, so I am determined to conquer my new rafting anxiety and try the course again soon! Major props to dad for beating me up the telephone pole climb and leading off the zip line.

If you want to see pictures of this little adventure - check out the online gallery on pages 3 and 4 using the link below. We are the white raft - dad's feet would be the two sticking out of the water towards the end. Again, yikers.

http://www.photos.usnwc.org/Water-Sports-Photos/9-05-09/500-600/9527805_mCLRF#640394578_8gZZt

All's well that ends well, though and after we caught our breath, we had a yummy dinner on the patio, enjoyed live music, and shot the following pictures. I was trying to make it like a Rorschach tests - when we heard the name of the activity, we made the first face that came to our mind. Hehe.

Thanks to my sweet dad for a lovely weekend together.

Mega Zip line...




Climb to Zip...




Rafting...

The Cove

Tonight dad and I went to see the documentary thriller The Cove - the story of one team's mission to uncover massive dolphin slaughters and the horrible consequences in Taiji, Japan. One review I read touted it as "Flipper meets the Bourne Identity."

The premise of the film originated from Ric O'Barry's work. Ric was one of the original dolphin trainer's on the show Flipper - the film reveals the incident on the show that drove him from training in captivity to release and preservation work. It's fascinating.

I was so moved and, more importantly, educated, by this film.

Please see this movie if it is playing near you. Watch the trailer here...



To sign the petition for Save the Whales Again! visit the link below:
http://www.socialvibe.com/charities/35

Quote of the Week

This week at school from a new Kindergarten student to her teacher...she was marveling at a fellow classmate's birthday:

"Mrs. Minor...how is it that someone turns six? Is it magical?"

Smile. I love working with kids.

First...

...mani and pedi for Annabelle - thanks to Liz for sending this precious pic!