Oh, life. Some lessons are learned the hard way.

The past couple weeks have been full of ups and downs. I want to be all cool and bloggy and show you all the nifty DIYs and recipes that I do all the time. (Oh wait, DIY...that must be someone else.) But this is just life. Baker style.

Our up and down list. Accompanied with photos where appropriate. (I love Instagram, don't you?)

1. Down: my sweet Grandma Frank spent a week in the hospital. She's home now, my mom is there taking care of her. And she is recovering, but there are still some worries about her health. Send up a prayer for her if you think about it!

2. Up: We paid off ALL of our student loans! This felt so amazing. Champagne necessary.

3. Down: The Civic died and we had to tow it. It wouldn't start, even with a jump.

4. Up: The Civic lives on! It just had a super dead battery. 

5. Up: Awesome Friday flowers. Maybe the best ones yet.

6. Up: The discovery of the Green Monster Smoothie. I've seen this on Pinterest and everywhere on the intraweb and decided to make my own version. So so so good! I love getting a serving of fruit and veggies first thing in the morning. 

Green Monster Smoothie

1/2 cup plain fat free Greek yogurt

1 frozen banana, chopped

1 spoonful of creamy peanut butter

Half a bag of spinach (or as much as you want)

1/2-1 cup skim milk (depends how thick you want your smoothie)

A couple ice cubes

Blend on puree setting and then on liquefy to get a nice smooth texture. Serves one.

7. Up: Getting cool points with all my coworkers for wearing blue Chucks with my scrubs. 

8. Down: Chemistry lesson learned the hard way.

So on Wednesday night, I planned to make chicken and dumplings, a Southern delicacy. I made a batch over the weekend but it didn't turn out well. So I went at it again, hoping for some better and blog-worthy results. 

I had a big stockpot full of the boiling chicken broth that needed straining. I decided that a great idea would be to pour it into a glass pitcher and then easily strain it from that. I picked a nice big thick pitcher. I poured my just boiled chicken broth in it. I was almost finished when I heard a loud cracking noise as a the pitcher broke and a gallon of almost boiling water spilled onto me. I said a few choice words, ripped off my pants, and got some cool clothes to put over the burns, which were already blistering. 

Caleb insisted I go to the ER. Note: a pain rating of 10/10 and some juicy red skin gets you in super fast. I got hooked up with some pain pills, silvadene cream, and ice packs. In and out in 45 minutes, impressive. 

Taco Bell and a Smirnoff later, I was feeling much better.

Basically, where the ice packs cover in the pic is where the burns are. Yes, I did take pictures of the burns. No, I will not show them on here. Because that's gross and no one wants to see them.

Bottom line: Do not put boiling water into room temperature glass. I feel like I should have already known this. But I didn't. And now I do.

9. Up: My sweet husband took the day off yesterday to take care of me. He brought me things, dressed my wounds, and did the laundry and dishes. And we spent most of the day watching movies and playing video games. Time well spent.

10: Down: It was my Grandma Voth's vintage glass pitcher. And I loved it.

So today I'm taking my first sick day of my life because I can't really put pants on. Which is kinda lame, but true. Don't worry, I plan on being a real woman tomorrow and going in. 

Oh pants-less life. I bet I'll never forget this one! Happy Friday!

(PS follow me on Instagram, @lorrib)

Christmas in February

Friday, February 3rd was a joyous day. It was the day Caleb finally received his much anticipated Christmas gift. A gun. More specifically, an AR15. It was magical. Tennessee, we embrace your lifestyle completely.

Please note the other gun and knife on his belt. Necessary to protect the homestead.

We went out on Sunday afternoon to shoot her (as in, the gun... guns are girls, were you aware?). Again, magical.

Why yes, that is an old freezer we are shooting at.

He looks so happy.

Ah, Christmas. Extending into February. What could be better?

Now taking ideas for a name for the gun. The other gun's name is Lucille. Again, guns are women. Your suggestions are appreciated.

Recipe post coming tomorrow. In case you aren't really into guns or something.

Well hey 2012! How bout some taco soup?

Happy New Year! Yep, I realize this blog was a little MIA over the last couple weeks. But no fears, the Tennessee documentation has not ceased! We had a fun New Year's celebration with some friends, some sushi, and some fireworks. It was a good time. The best  part though, was that we both had the whole weekend off and got to spend some good time together. (FYI: don't got see Mission Impossible 4 in the IMAX if you are afraid of heights and you want to keep your Twizzlers down.)

But now its January. I literally just got done taking down Christmas decorations. I like to hold onto the holidays as long as possible. The best part of January is the fact that you can make some resolutions/goals/lists. And I do love a good list. I think resolutions are a tiny bit silly but making a list and a plan is super appealing to me. So I do it. 

So here are my 2012 resolutions, in list form. There is a theme. See if you can guess it.

1. Lose 5 lbs in the month of January. And every month after that until I reach my goal weight. Which shall not be disclosed at this time.

2. Give up all soda during the week. 

3. Go to the gym on all my days off. 

4. Eat at least 2 fruits and 2 vegetables every day.

5. Food journal it up!

6. Scrapbook and organize all my wedding and honeymoon things. Since I've been married for two years now and I'm not moving a bin full of that stuff anywhere else.

Yeah, these are super simple. But they need to be. Or else I won't do them at all. I was further motivated in my health driven resolution theme after I had the following exchange with the housekeeper at the hospital the other day:

Me: "Good morning!"

Housekeeper: "Hey, how are you?"

Me: "Good!"

Housekeeper: "Girl, you are really putting on some weight, aren't you?"

Me: "Umm...yeah...I guess so??" (walking away quickly)

HA. Don't worry, my feelings are unscathed. But honestly, who points that out? Thanks, housekeeper!

I have still been going to the personal trainer (who swears he can tell I'm losing weight...) and he has been attempting to help me with my basic food choices. Which include eating breakfast, not drinking soda, and not eating carbs and dairy at night. Which is super hard for me. Because when I get home from work around 8pm, all I want to eat is a bowl of cereal. Or three. But this taco soup recipe fits the bill, is delicious, and so easy! It's a Weight Watcher recipe that I got from my sweet coworker, Lynn. And it is only 2 points per cup. Amazing! And I maybe lie to my husband and say it's chili. And forget to tell him that it's kinda healthy. Oops. Get your taco soup on, New Year's resolutioners.

Taco Soup

1 lb ground beef

1 onion, chopped

3 cans beans (any beans you want...drain kidney beans but leave all other undrained)

1 can corn, undrained

1 can diced tomatoes, undrained

1 can chopped mild green chilies, undrained

1 small (8oz) can tomato sauce

1 pkg taco seasoning mix, dry

1 pkg Hidden Valley Ranch buttermilk dressing mix, dry

Brown beef and onion, drain. Combine all ingredients in crock pot. Cook on low all day. (I start that crock pot at 6am and don't even worry about it till 8pm, works great!)

This time I used 2 cans chili beans and 1 can black beans. I mixed in a cornbread muffin and put a dollop of plain Greek yogurt on top. Yum.

Oh, and I'm getting my scrapbook on. Starting right now. As soon as I fold the laundry.

Happy New Year!

State of the House: 2011 New Year's Resolution Recap

Here it is friends, a recap of my 2011 New Year's resolution. To maintain a cleaner and neater household. I would give myself a C+ on this project. I did not excel by any means. I did reorganize our closet, guest room, and office area. The guest room has since un organized itself. I make more attempts on my days off to at least do some cleaning and organizing, even if its only pick things up.

I thought I was doing pretty awesome until sometime in November when I was at work and had a text convo with the hubs about how messy the house was and how he was going to put all my stuff in a pile. (I was going to include the convo in this post but it had a few too many choice words. From both parties.) Then I came home from work and all my stuff that he thought was not in its proper place was actually in a pile in the middle of the living room. And I was super pissed. For reals. Here is the thing. I am messy. It's just who I am. I like things to be clean and sanitary, hello, I'm a nurse. Caleb does not see the dirt. He sees the junk everywhere. So if the junk is picked up, he thinks things are clean. Magical. For the record, he said he gives me a B on my housewife efforts. At least I passed!

I did make an honest effort this year to step up my game. Here is a line up of my fave products that I discovered or rediscovered in 2011!

From left to right:

1. Swiffer dust and shine: perfect for cleaning the coffee table that we use for all our meals and put our feet on and everything else. It smells fresh and the wood looks so pretty.
2.Ajax dish soap in grapefruit scent: Makes the water all pink and happy and costs like 97 cents. And cleans dishes like a rock star.
3. Baking soda: It's cheap and scrubs things better than any expensive cleaner. And deodorizes. I keep one in the fridge, pour it down the disposal, in the trash can, ect.
4. Method Daily Shower Cleaner: spray this stuff on right after you shower and it stays clean and delightful. And Method makes great natural cleaning products.
5. Dyson Ball Vacuum: we bought this with wedding money and it just makes vacuuming easy and not totally horrible. (Fun fact: I lost the school spelling bee in the 5th grade with the word "vacuum." I was one of the last two standing. This is probably where my hatred for cleaning started.)
6. Plink disposal cleaner: throw one down once a week and your disposal smells like lemon fresh goodness.
7. Method Lil' Bowl Blue toilet cleaner: makes your toilets white and bright and makes your bathroom smell heavenly. Toilet cleaning is def my favorite chore.
8. Clorax wipes: Because cleaning my counters with the same gross sponge just grosses me out. They clean and sanitize everything.
9. Glamorous rubber gloves: because these just make cleaning so much better. I got them in Charleston at a kitchen store, but you can get them at lots of different places.

My absolute favorite cleaning tip of the year: cleaning my flat top stove.

I have a flat top stove. As a messy person, I make a mess when I cook and I don't wipe it up immediately. So food gets dried on, burnt on, stuck on. And is difficult to get up. I don't even know who to give credit to, but I found this tip on the intraweb, and it is magical.

Sprinkle the stove liberally with baking soda. Put a bunch of rags in hot, soapy water, wring them out slightly and then cover the baking soda. Let sit for 10-15 minutes.

Scrub all that nasty grime off! It comes right up. Unless your stove is super dirty like mine and you have to do it a second time. But then it's really all gone! Shiny happy stove top! (Then you should wipe it off with a Clorax wipe or something to get all the residue off, unlike me.)

2011, you were a great year. I tried to keep you clean and tidy. The most important lesson I learned was that as long as things look neat, they don't really need to be that clean. And that with every new organizational project comes a trip to Target. I will remember this in my future cleaning endeavors. Here's to you, State of the House. May you live on.

Previous State of the House posts that may humor or inspire you:

The Closet Clean Out
Office Space
Guest Bedroom
Kitchen Clean Up

Gettin' down on Friday: crafting nonsense, pink party, and more randomness

I just got done with two days of pulmonary symposium goodness, where I collected lots of free pens and drank like ten Diet Dr. Peppers to attempt to pay attention. I'm gearing up to work all weekend and all week next week, including Thanksgiving. And then participate in the Black Friday madness, because I'm not a hater. I love me some Black Friday.

Randomness:

1. I was making some yummy corn chowder last night and throwing in a bunch of seasoned salt. Which I love. (Seasoned salt, that is.) I looked on the back to see what the ingredients are in seasoned salt and one of the top ones is MSG. What?!? For reals? McDonald's doesn't use this anymore. Chinese restaurants don't even use this anymore! Does all seasoned salt have MSG? Or is it just my cheap Valutime stuff? I am dismayed. And disappointed. And saddened. Not that I'm all hippie about my food, but I do have a few standards for goodness sake!

2. Caleb and I worked out at the gym together last night for the first time since...before we got married? It was magical. Then we came home and ate the MSG soup.

3. I viciously killed a spider in my sleep last night. As evidenced by spider legs all over my side of the bed this morning. Take that, spider.

4. I am the worst crafter ever. We had a Housewives craft night last month and I was like all taking pictures of things. This is how far I got into my craft:

Do you like how I can't even focus the camera? That is literally how far the craft went. It involved cutting twine and hot gluing it to fake gourds. Everyone else's looked adorable. Mine looked awful. It's in a plastic bag somewhere, with all the other fake gourds that are not covered in twine.

5. We had a pink party at work last month in honor of the breast cancer survivors that we work with.
We had lots of pink treats and it was yummy and fun.

Left to right: Megan, me, Lauren, and Lynn (breast cancer survivor extraordinaire!)

The Baconator (Kim Bacon, also a beautiful breast cancer survivor!)

And now friends, I go to the gym with my husband. Because that is what we do now. Maybe we won't eat MSG soup tonight...

The Real Housewives of East Tennessee

Are you familiar with the Real Housewives? From Orange County, Beverly Hills, New York, Atlanta, New Jersey...and now, from East Tennessee.

Yes, it's true. The first episode of The Real Housewives of East Tennessee, on this blog, today. It's going to be a hit.

All of our guys work for Kiewit, so we were all transplanted to East Tennessee. But as you can see, we are embracing it. This past weekend, Kiewit sponsored a golf scramble (is that the correct terminology?) and we gladly participated.

Obviously, we coordinated with the pink. It's what a housewife does.

After having our glass bottles of wine confiscated, we were on our way. (The Real Housewives always have wine at their events.) The girl groups (there were 3 of them) were booted to the back nine, while all the guys played the front nine. This was fine with us. The first hole (we started on 11) took us an hour since we let the other two groups pass us. (We didn't want to embarrass them with our great skills.)

Playing golf, housewife style. Natalya on the bottom left, Paige on the top right, and Emily on the bottom right.

After the first hole, we were all in the groove and we rocked it from there. We skipped the holes where we couldn't see the flag from the tee off place. (What's the point?) We liberally played best ball. ("Yeah this is approximately where this ball would be if it went straight instead of into the woods.) We were so good that other golfers even bought us drinks. And the director of the golf course came to check in on us often, he was super impressed with our sweet game skills. He also gave us some friendly reminders of where you can and cannot drive the golf carts. All in all, playing golf with the Housewives was a smashing success.

We dressed up for the evening events to celebrate our great day.

Looking good, ladies.

My man was looking sharp as well. And I have some sweet shoes on.

The dinner was yummy, the band was funny, and the dancing was constant. Some of the guys even got to play a few songs.

My hubby is a stud.

The Kiewit band.

The housewives struck again later. Something was obviously funny.

Good facial expression, me.

It was a good day for the newest Real Housewives. And now, off to be a real housewife in my own house. Laundry, cleaning, dishes. Why do I feel like the Real Housewives don't do these things?

Cinco de Mayo!

First, I'm going to list all the reasons this week was awesome:

1. I saw a huge, hardback KitchenAid cookbook in a patient's trash can. I asked why it was in there. His mom said because it didn't have any good recipes and she didn't want it. She said I could have it, or else the trash could have it, either one. I took it. It is great. (Disclaimer: it was not an isolation room and there was nothing gross in the trash can.)

2. Another patient I had found out I am from Kansas. He was very excited and said that when he used to drive truck, he would go pick up loads from the tobacco farms in the mountains of Kansas. I laughed. In front of him. I couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

3. Yesterday I picked up an extra shift and it was the best Friday I have ever worked. The patients were angels.

4. Two people told me it looked like I lost weight.

5. We discovered a place to play pool and drink beer within walking distance of our loft. And the burgers are amazing.

6. The farmers' market opened today and it was beautiful. Just beautiful.

7. I bought my first pair of skinny jeans at Target. And they fit. Now that the trend is on the way out, they decide to start making skinny jeans for girls with butts.

8. Cinco de Mayo! Full of Mexican goodness.

I made a fruit pizza. Except I made it in a rectangle shape to  look like the Mexico flag.

Check it out. And its yummy!

Fruit pizza= a tube of sugar cookie dough baked in a pizza pan or cookie sheet, cream cheese frosting (cream cheese+sugar+vanilla), and whatever fruit you want. In this case, strawberries and kiwis. It is so darn good.

We got together with some of Caleb's friends from work and enjoyed all our favorite Mexican things: margaritas and tacos.

Also, I wore my new boots. And I love them.

Really, my favorite thing about Mexico is Croc and going on mission trips there in high school. Here is a lovely pic of me, Christie Deaver, Laura Weatherford, and Rachel Williams in Mexico many years ago.

I like this. You are welcome.

My boss loves to celebrate all holidays, no matter how mundane. She makes us dress up and takes pictures of us and posts them places. Enjoy this goodness.

As my husband said, "Muy guapo!"

Cinco de Mayo was successful. As is this whole weekend since I am NOT working! Enjoy your weekend, Mother's Day, and spring!

Food City Expo: how a giant shopping cart and millions of samples can make my day

Today is my day off before the weekend work madness happens. I decided to celebrate by going to the a food expo at the convention center near by. They lured me in with promises of food samples and celeb chef Jon Ashton (I don't even know who that is. But I do now because I caught a glimpse of him from afar.).

I drove up to the convention center and was greeted with this. This is hilarious. And for my sister in law Audrey, who thought Food City was hilarious. Who doesn't want a race car/go cart with a giant shopping cart on the top? (We are in Tennessee, Nascar is like a religion here.) Excuse all the phone photos.

This is awesome/awful/hilarious.

I thought it couldn't get better than the giant shopping cart. But don't worry, I got to meet Miss Food City herself and snag an autographed pic.

Can I be the next Miss Food City? I think if you are queen of a grocery store you should be a little fatter...just saying.

And then the rows and rows of booths with food. I ate lunch from all the samples. I learned how to make "healthy" snacks from a lovely cooking demo (that Miss Food City participated in!). I saw Chef Jon from afar. And I took home tons and tons of food samples and coupons and recipes. It's actually kind of amazing. I learned fast that if I stopped to talk to vendors for more than 2 seconds they would either give me 1. extra coupons 2. extra samples or 3. the full size product. Yesssss.

The loot. Which included deodorant, a wooden spoon, and fresh produce, thank you very much.

I was also super excited because Famous Dave's bbq sauce was featured and there is a Famous Dave's in KC and I love all things Kansas City. AND the Indiana kettle corn was there which I have not had since I was in Indiana last summer. I walked by the booth 3 times before the man offered me a full size bag. Yes please. I am shameless.

Mostly this was funny and I wanted to share. This is what I do alone on my days off. I need some hobbies...

Happy weekend everyone! While everyone else enjoys sunshine and 70s, I will be working all weekend (darn those student loans). Enjoy the spring weather!

April Fools Prank: For the man who isn't ready for kids

This is my one day off in between runs of work. Like the tiny creme part of an oreo. The part that should be bigger. But I just need to document and share my April Fools prank on the love of my life. Because it's probably a one time shot. And it was hilarious. Even if only to me. And my coworkers.

(Also I downloaded this photo effects app for my phone so my phone pics can have funky effects. Its fun.)

Friday was a great day at work. My patients were wonderful. I am orienting someone (Hi Cecile!) and soo its kinda like two people to do the work and it is mostly very good. Friday was so good that we had time to come up with a great prank. Actually, my pregnant coworker thought of it. She takes pregnancy tests, we all take them home to our husbands. I am all in.

Puzzle effect. Oooo.

So we call up our boss to go to the dollar store to buy us some pregnancy tests (no need to overspend here, folks). I debate actually taking the pregnancy test home. But know that I probably can't pull it off because I cannot lie. I do not have a poker face. At all. 

Pink effect. Very nice for the girl child that the test indicated. Kidding.

I decide I should text him. Because that is how I would tell him I am pregnant for reals. (So not!) Someone suggests I start the texts early in the day ("Baby, I am so nauseated, maybe from that salmon we ate last night?" "Bleh, I have been throwing up all morning" "Everyone at work thought I should take a pregnancy test...")

Negative effect. Like the result of a pregnancy test if I took one right now.

I didn't really know what to do. Sometimes he doesn't keep his phone on him at work so I thought maybe my texts would be in vain. But at lunchtime the pregnancy test arrived and my adorably pregnant coworker, Stacey, donated some urine to the cause.

Black and White. 

Coworkers gathered around (all girls plus the pharmacist Jason, who just happened to be situated in our place of gathering). I sent the following text to my unsuspecting hub: "We need to talk tonight." Nothing scares a man more than the threat of a good talk. He immediately texted back "Ok...why?" I sent the following picture and waited for response.

Check out that plus sign. It means pregnant.

I waited for a couple minutes. Then my phone rang (not really rang but buzzed. I was at work people). "OMG should I answer it???" "UM YES answer it!"

"Hello?"

(Some shuffling in the background)

"Good joke honey."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"You aren't pregnant"

"Umm...yes I am...oh whatever...April fools! Did you at least freak out?"

"Yeah! Till I counted on a calendar and realized it wasn't possible."

"Haha. But you freaked out for real?"

"Yes. Not funny. I love you and I'm glad you aren't pregnant and I have to go back to work now."

*Laughter from me and coworkers* It was mostly me who got the humor out of it. But it was worth it. And it made the day so much funnier.

(Note: all the patients still got above average care. My joking did not cause any harm or neglect. Don't you worry.)

Christmas Par-tay, Kiewit Style!

Ahh,  a lovely day off. Especially good since I had to drive through snow and ice to get to work the last two days. And people in Tennessee do not know how to a. prepare for snow/ice, b. clear off snow/ice, c. drive in snow/ice, and d. not freak out when a flake of snow falls. But no worries, I made it just fine.

So here is a recap of our past few weeks full of Christmas fun. We finally got a Christmas tree. Its real. We did not go out to the woods and cut it down. We went to Home Depot, where they trimmed it for us and placed it in a tree stand. Now that is customer service.

Also I included my kitchen table in the Christmas tree collage. Delightful.

I hung the stockings on the bookcase. Since we don't have a fireplace. And we got a real live wreath too. It smells amazing when you walk through the door.

Look closely and you can see the Harry Potter display on the bookshelf. And laugh at us. We don't care.

This past Friday night we went to the Kiewit Christmas party. It was at the Marriot and was pretty sweet. Good food, hilarious band, and they even paid for our rooms. Nice. 

Pretty.

The band was very funny. Love the lead singer's hair.

Awesome. 

In case you haven't met my husband, here is something super fun about him. He hates smiling in pictures. He loves making weird faces and messing them up. I think the only time he made a very legit attempt at good picture taking was our engagement and wedding photos. Because I told him they were very expensive. Ha.

See the picture where he is smiling? Its at someone else. He was caught off guard.

Anyway, we had a great time. I can't believe its the middle of December. Which is why I'm doing my Christmas cards TODAY!  Tomorrow I may attempt Christmas cookies. Hmmm...

In case you still have Christmas shopping to do (hello, everyone!), check this out. My mom is a new Mary Kay consultant! This is her website!!! Mary Kay is an awesome line with tons of makeup and skin care products. They have tons of great gifts for cheaper than you think! My mom will also do a FREE facial for you! Think holiday parties, girls nights, or a fun gift for yourself. She has a great selection of beautifully wrapped gifts, as well as gorgeous personalized gift certificates! Oh, and she does FREE shipping! My mom, Kaye Voth, lives in Olathe, KS but will ship to anywhere for free! Check out her website for all her info as well as the full line of products!

And off to clean my house, workout at the gym (yes I joined one), watch Hoda and Kathie Lee, and write Christmas cards! Have a wonderful Tuesday!

Thankful List:

1. Chloe, my car, who got me to work in the treacherous conditions

2. Forever 21, sponsor of my sparkly cocktail ring

3. The fab Kiewit Christmas party, which reminded me of all the great people who are far from home with me

4. The amazing patients I had the last two days: one invited me out to his farm to ride horses, another told me she loved me when I left every night.

What to wear to a rave

The weekend did not exactly go as planned...a warm fall weekend full of farmer's market, adorable craft booths, and lots of picture taking. The weekend was in fact, rainy. I did go to the farmer's market but since it was raining and all the farmers were annoyed, I did not take any pictures. The "Fall for Downtown" festival that happened on my street was boring. Pretty much like all crafty festivals are. I like creativity, not more junk. I think we took one picture, it was of me getting a free handscrub at the adorable boutique downstairs. A beautiful place full of shoes, purses, and accessories. I have to look at all its goods multiple times a day going in and out of my apartment. So naturally, every so often it steals some of my money.

But back to the main point of this posting. I started this blog to document all the funny, crazy, things we do. I'm pretty sure a rave classifies as such. You read that right. We went to a rave. Caleb has a friend at work that we hang out with a lot. On Friday he asked if we would like to go see "DJ Bassnectar" with him in Knoxville. Um, duh.

From my internet research, I gathered that a concert is classified as a rave when there are DJs and general techo music. Check. Now what to wear? Since I've never been to a rave, I didn't know. Fortunately I have the world wide web to help me out and I found these fantastic tips. Since my supply of body glitter has been out since the 7th grade and I do not own any furry animal backpacks, I decided to wear what I was originally going to wear that night: a cute summer dress with leggings underneath. I did add the super cute flats and watch that I bought at the above mentioned boutique that very day. Oh, and I did paint my nails black with glitter on top. Which basically looks awesome whether or not you are going to a rave.

Anyway, this rave didn't start until midnight. Which is three hours past our normal bedtime. On a Friday when we are basically totally exhausted anyways. I met up with the guys at the house they were "jamming" at and we headed out around 11. My husband slept the 45 minutes to Knoxville and I was getting more and more annoyed. What am I doing going to a rave? With a sleepy husband? Who is this DJ Bassnectar dude anyway? But never fear, all annoyances were immediately gone when we arrived at the rave location.

About the Rave:
1. It was in a warehouse type venue. Which seems typical for raves.
2. We got in for free because we have connections. Yes dear readers, even in Tennessee I have connections. *Side note: people were paying $25 to get into this rave. And it was sold out. Who are these people?*
3. The main event, DJ Bassnectar started playing 10 minutes after we arrived. Perfection. And it was so loud that no one was sleepy anymore.
4. If you have any kind of seizure disorder please do not go to a rave. The flashing lights will give you a seizure. They might give you one anyway.

I think this is the best picture. You can see the all the people and the lights and the other people taking pics with their cell phones.

5. I did not take my camera because I didn't want it to get mauled. But I couldn't resist being paparazzi with my phone. Even though the pics didn't turn out great, it was just an adventure.

6. Not sure if you can really tell in this picture below, but you should wear lots of things that glow in the dark. Or just wave them around.

7. Also appropriate to wear to a rave are crazy costumes you may have laying around. Like this dog.

I saw this dog later in the night with the top part of his costume pulled down.

8. It gets really really really hot. With hundreds of people jumping around and limited ventilation, everyone is sweaty and gross. You can actually see the evaporation coming off of people's drinks because it was so hot in there. And you can see the evaporation on the pipes above. This is also why I didn't take any pictures of us or our friends. I typically like pictures of myself looking good. Not gross.

9. Other wardrobe options: your fairy costume, a sports bra and running shorts, crazy masks, and funny shoes. Like these boots. 

I don't know why you would wear boots to something this hot. But clearly this girl and the dog were in cahoots.

10. Disclaimer: I have heard that there are generally drugs being used at raves. We did not use any drugs and neither did our friends. We drank. Water. Lots of water. So we wouldn't pass out from heat exhaustion.

11. The music was fun. It was a pretty enjoyable experience all around. The most fun part being watching crazy people in crazy outfits dance like maniacs. Just put your arms up and bounce and you will be dancing like a true raver.

12. My husband is staying home from work today because he is sick. Probably because he had to breathe in everyone's germs at the rave.

13. Just in case you want a whole minute of raving in front of your computer here is the video I took. I think this pretty much sums it up.

So that is it. Our excitement for the week. Absolutely worth it. I think I got my rave fill for the next 10 years.

Good 'Ol Rocky Top

Due to working overtime and making moolah, my blog posts have been lacking. Not for lack of fun times in East Tennessee...just for lack of time to make blog posts.


Recap of exciting things that have happened in the last couple weeks:
1. Mullet Man became Buzz Man. I did take pictures and wanted to post some of them but decided he looked like a cancer patient. So I did not. Because I love him and I want him to not hate me. Let's just say the hair was very, very short. Like, there was almost no hair. It has since grown and he no longer looks completely bald.


2. We went whitewater rafting last weekend with some guys from Mullet Man's work. It was a beautiful day on a river that went through the Smokey Mountains. I couldn't take pictures because...we were on a boat...fighting our way through rapids. I had to pay attention people! Despite wedging my feet deep into the boat, when our guide steered us into a large rock, I flipped out into the river. One of the guys had a video camera on his helmet and caught the action. Awesome. I do have some sweet bruises to show for it. It was smooth sailing from there on, we had a blast!


3. Yesterday we went to the University of Tennessee football game in Knoxville. This was quite the event sponsored by Kiewit, Mullet Man's place of work. It started bright and early in the morning, where we met up at 11am to take a couple charter buses to Knoxville. At this time, it was raining. We prepared ourselves with layers of clothing and ponchos. At our arrival to the tailgate site, the sun came out. Scorchingly. Kiewit provided a massive camper, large screen tvs, never-ending drinks, and a delish tailgate spread from Calhoun's (bbq and tons of sides). Tennessee fans love football. Seeing seas of orange and hearing obnoxious chants of "Its great to be...a Tennessee Volunteer!" made us miss KU. Oh the Rock Chalk chant, waving the wheat, that beautiful KU blue...*Sigh.*

A good example of UT spirit

A UT decked out car...impressive

Anyway, after roasting for a few hours and gorging ourselves on food at the tailgate, it was finally game time! We headed to Neyland Stadium with the masses and found our seats...literally at the top of the stadium. Which is significantly bigger than KU's Memorial Stadium. I kind of wanted to vomit when looking down. But I gathered my strength to sit down and enjoy the game. UT does put on an impressive pre-game. With the largest marching band of any University and the releasing of doves in honor of September 11th, I was thoroughly impressed. (All these pictures are taken by my phone, since I didn't want to subject my camera to intense weather conditions.)

The players running out onto the field through the marching band. Please note all the orange everywhere.

The jumbotron....please note how high up we are.

Well, we were having a grand time until about 8 minutes into the first quarter. We we noted all the players running of the field. And there was an announcement, "We have received notice of inclement weather including lightening within 6 miles of the stadium...the game will resume after this weather has passed...please take shelter....you will be allowed back into the stadium with your ticket stub."

What inclement weather? We didn't see any lightening. Come on people. Lets play football. Since Mullet Man and I are hard core (ha!), we decided to stick it out with all the other Kiewit people. Surely the game will resume in a few minutes. But check out these storm clouds...

See how that once full stadium is now looking much emptier?

"Oh look how the storm is moving past us...it's not even going to hit this stadium."

Note how the storm seems to be heading straight for the stadium.

After this picture and about 5 more of the same announcements, I saw the lightening. Not far from me. And I was at the highest point of the stadium. Surrounded by metal. And flag poles. More lightening is noted. People are now in mass exodus of the stadium. Kiewit people are still holding their ground. I calmly and rationally suggest to Mullet Man that we perhaps take shelter. He agrees. We start for the exits. And then the monsoon starts. Sheets of rain come down. *Note: we left our ponchos at the tailgate site because the sun is scorching and there would be no need for ponchos.* We are now immediately soaked. There is no more picture taking at this point.

We finally get out of the stadium and decide not to wait for the game to resume. We head back to the tailgate site where a bus comes to take us home. We ride for two hours in our wet and now cold clothes. Once arriving home, we take hot showers and put on dry clothes. It is now midnight. We decide that after our ordeal, we are starving. So we go to McDonalds and get two nutritious Big Mac meals and find that "Date Night" has arrived from Netflix. So we spend the wee hours of the morning enjoying being dry and warm. Ahhh. 

Dear UT: We enjoyed your game day experience. Maybe next time we will bring sunglasses, sunscreen,  a change of clothes, and a better idea of what the weather will be.  We enjoyed your stadium, your marching band, and learning "Good Ol Rocky Top." We think your chant "It's great...to be... a Tennessee Volunteer" is a little silly. We are glad we had the chance to see you score six points before you ended up being beat by Oregon.  Good luck in the rest of the season! And as always, Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

Love, The Bakers