Burn Baby Burn

A little afternoon pyromania is all!

Before -

After, the following morning - 

How Bout Some ETSU Hoops!

We took in an ETSU men's basketball game against Wofford college, at Freedom Hall, this past Wednesday night.

Although, ESTU fell to Wofford 69-72 it was a great take -

Gotta be honest, the ETSU mascot was kinda lame. He was obscure and really didn't get out there to rile the crowd.  Rather he remained more in the background and was just blah -

The highlight of the night was the Honda Small Dog Race that was held on the court during the half time. Eight small dogs (under 20 pounds); defending champion Jubel, marketing icon Poppy, and six newcomers: Remi, Oscar, Oliver, Molly, Fenrir, and Dobby, competed for a $1,000 PetSmart gift card -

Only one of the dogs new what to do and what direction to head in out of the gate, see below, and won easily -

The fan favorite was a three-legged dog but he came up a leg short, DOH -

Another fun East Tennessee event!

The Real Deal II

A little over a year ago I posted an entry titled "The Real Deal", about getting in touch with my artsy-fartsy side and had a picture of a holiday wreath I made.

Fast forward a year now and all the red berries and leaves have fallen off and all the pine needles turned brown and were super brittle but the bittersweet vine base and the pine cones were fine.

A Hobby Lobby opened in next door to Trader Joe's in Foxboro, MA, so after picking up a few items in TJs, I stopped into Hobby Lobby.

OMG, an artsy-fartsy goldmine!

So, with my wreath in mind I picked up some holiday swag (fake swag) and created the below -

Original wreath, 1-year old -

Newly decorated and ready to shine -

This one should last a bit longer...

Relaxing Soaks!

I've used my jacuzzi bathtub more in the last several months than the previous 20 years, I kid you not!

SO frick'n relaxing!

Turducken Is An Actual Thing...

For the curious, Wikipedia defines a Turducken as - "A dish consisting of a deboned chicken stuffed into a deboned duck, further stuffed into a deboned turkey. Outside of the United States and Canada, it is known as a three-bird roast. Gooducken is an English variant, replacing turkey with goose."

The Real Deal

I got in touch with my artsy-fartsy side and made the below holiday wreath yesterday!

I had been planning it and slowly gathering all the components, all identified and found on my regular walks - grape vines, winterberry limbs and a couple different types of pine cones.

All in all, I'm pleased with the end result!

Father or Farter?!

Admittedly, I am NOT into bathroom talk or humor but thought this was worth a post.

The above was hanging in the bathroom at my optometrist office.

I'm still not sure if this is creative or disturbing, leaning towards a little of both but clearly someone has some spare time on their hands...

It's Monday, Alas...

The Tastiest Event of the Year!

We'll be attending Franklin's Taste Of The Region this Tuesday evening.  Hosted by the United Regional Chamber of Commerce and held at the Tri-County Regional Vocational High School, which is only a couple miles from us.

Local area restaurants and chefs offer delicious samples of their dishes.  It's a great way to see and taste a variety of foods in a casual atmosphere.

We've been going for years and always leave stuffed!

It's a good take, c'mon down!

If Only!

Fingers crossed!

Boston Here We Come!

We spent the day in Boston on Tuesday, 8/23.

We took in Faneuil Hall with a Regina pizza lunch outside over looking the waterfront.  A stroll along the waterfront to the Northend.  An even longer stroll through Downtown Crossing to the Boston Common and a couple photos in front of the State House.  Then ended with a pleasurable boat ride on the historic Swan Boats

Another terrific day!

Full Day of Fun!

Emilie and I spent this past Monday, 8/22, at Patriots Place in Foxborough.

We had lunch outside on the upper patio at CBS Scene.

We could watch as the transformation (to the left of the tower) was taking place.  The turf field was had been removed and the staging being erected for the Kenny Chesney Spread The Love tour that was scheduled for the coming Saturday 8/27

We bowled a couple games at Splitsville using the BIG balls!

Then took in The Hall at Patriots Place for a historical walk down memory lane for our New England Patriots.

We had a terrific day!

Rock or Bust World Tour

AC/DC kicked off their North American world tour, Rock or Bust, Saturday August 22 at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro MA. and we were there!

A group of ten of us all went.  We had terrific seats and had a great time!

Those seniors can still rock.  Put's performers of today to shame.

This will now put Emilie's upcoming One Direction concert into the proper perspective, hahaha!

Meet The New England Revolution!

The New England Revolution 2015 "Meet The Revs" season ticket holder exclusive event was held at Gillette Stadium last night.  I was fortunate enough to obtain (4) tickets to this event, so off we went!

One of the highlights for me was being able to walk on the turf.  Much different than watching from home or even from the stands.  Definitely a different perspective. Looked smaller from field level too. 

Starting at 7PM the Rev players were each assigned to specific autograph tables on the 100 level concourse.  Two players were seated at each of the twelve tables, see seen below -

So, we had two hours to visit all twelve tables to obtain twenty-six (some tables had 3 players) autographs and take photos.  The lines were long in general but especially the more liked/famous players like Jermaine Jones, who's line went on and on and on.

In the end JoAnne, Emilie and I did pretty well.  We split up and each stood in a different line.  Emilie had the autograph poster, pictured above, and made sure to take JoAnne or my place in line, as the two of us went into another line.

We were able to get 22 of the 26 players autographs and many pictures with the players!

It was a very nice take and beautiful night to be outside. The evening ended with an awesome sunset over top Gillette Stadium.

A Roaring Garden Fire

What better way to use the raised garden bed where the garlic had been?!

How bout a roaring fire and s'more making!

Just Being Silly

Bottle cap self tattooing

Irresponsible parenting perhaps but we had a great time!

Snowmen Making

Emilie and I made some snowmen, or perhaps snowpeople to be politically correct, yesterday afternoon. The picture above was taken some 15+ hours later, so you can see what the 50+ degree day has done to them. Although, the one on the far left has been named Ghosty and therefore was never decorated. The others, well they're in various states of melt - you can see some of their parts lying on the snow in front of them.

Boston Adventure

Paul Revere and the Old North Church

Yesterday was such a warm, beautiful day that we decided to take a ride into Boston and walk around the city.

We were lucky enough to find a parking space, on a side street, in the financial district; cost = zero dollars. We bailed out and headed towards Fanuiel Hall Marketplace, which was mobbed, and caught the tail-end of a street performer; cost - zero dollars. Then we made our way along the waterfront through the Northend, over to Haymarket Square and then to South Station for lunch ; cost - zero dollars.

Finally being able to get outside and enjoy the sun, fresh air & Boston - priceless!!