October is my favorite month of the year. The weather starts to cool off (in theory). The sky almost always seems to be an impossible shade of blue. I have fond memories of Sundays in fall at my parents' house. It always seemed to be sunny on sundays. With the crunch of the leaves, and that wonderful smell (you know, the smell of fall), a nap in the hammock always did the trick. It'd be breezy, so the hammock would sway, but it was sunny, so you didn't freeze. It was wonderful. These days, since we don't have anything to nap in in our yard, I open the living room windows and the back porch windows, and I just enjoy the cross-breeze.

It seems like fall is taking a long time to get here. I have a pile of freshly knit hats, shawls, and even two sweaters, just dying to be worn. I got to wear my most recently knit sweater, a gray one, when Chris and I went apple picking, but it's been too warm since then to even consider it. This has made me realize that my hobby and the weather are not friends. But at least I have this awesome sweater!

Speaking of apple picking, I finally got to do that for the first time (if mom and dad took me, I don't remember. Amy's class went, but mine didn't.). Chris and I went up to Skytop in Flat Rock, NC, the first weekend of October. It was chilly and awesome, because I got to wear that sweater. We've been eating fresh apples ever since, and there has been apple pie and apple cobbler. Hopefully, some of the grannys will keep until time to make pie for thanksgiving. Chris kindly modeled our apples for me.

 

Then a kind lady took a picture that has BOTH of us in it! Yay! This may very well end up on our Christmas card, for lack of other picture.

All this talk of fall, combined with the beautiful weather outside, has me daydreaming about hiking Mt. Pisgah. So nice up there. Chris has never been. Note to self: must go to Pisgah.

But not this weekend! This weekend, we're going to Charleston. Chris' former roommate is getting married on Sunday. Since we'll already have to take Monday off (conveniently, it's fall break at Clemson), we decided to make a vacation out of it and leave on Saturday. We're going to be super touristy and see things like Ft. Sumter. AND, we get to see some old friends, which is always a nice treat. Oddly enough, Chris' family will be down there for the weekend, so we're having dinner with them on Saturday night.

In other news, Chris is still autocrossing. And enjoying it thoroughly. If you want to know something about autocross, you'll have to ask him at Christmas.

We have a pecan tree in our yard that is so close to ripe, but not quite yet. Chris has to park elsewhere, because they keep dropping on his car.

We have officially joined that new small group I mentioned last time. We're enjoying the fellowship with other couples our age.

Remember the creepy bugs I talked about last time? I googled them. They're earwigs. Apples to Apples will never be the same.

Clemson football is having a good year. We're winning and stuff. I've never been the fan of a winning team before. This is quite fun. The Greenville contingency will be going to a game in November. We even have a parking space, which is a big deal.

I finished our Christmas stockings, so we can start the holidays whenever. I'm ready. Ozaria helped me pick up pinecones the other day. I'm thinking we'll be spray painting them gold or silver. And decorating with them. Obviously. Martha would be so proud.

Speaking of Ozaria, she is doing well in school. Remembering what she learned in school is another story. She recently told me Marco Polo is from New Jersey. I have no idea where that started. Also, nearly every week, she discusses what she would do if Justin Bieber were here. It usually involves tears.

Progress with the mentor program revival is slow, but steady. We're going to be kicking-off recruitment next month. It's exciting. I just hope we can find enough mentors to match the demand for mentors.

I've discovered something lately. If you really want to know how important something really is in your life, just try to go cold turkey. I quit drinking sodas at all, some time ago. Recently, I've allowed myself the new Dr. Pepper Ten, despite their motto ("it's not for women"). I honestly think I could be fine without sodas at any time. For a while, there was the occasional craving for a Dr. Pepper, but now I find myself indifferent. I also have put myself on a yarn ban. I can knit what I have. But I can't buy yarn until Halloween. I've been under this ban for over a month already. Turns out, though frustrating, it has allowed me to really contemplate which projects I do and don't care to knit. I have several lovely sweaters lined up as soon as halloween comes along. I've been able to prioritize my projects and not buy yarn for the sake of buying yarn.

Whenever I write a new blog post, I read the most recent post, then I make a list. Good news: I'm almost done with the list for today.

One last thing. My new project at work is on scintillators. Essentially, radiation detectors. They are used in two major fields. One is medical: CT and PET scanners. The other is security: shipment scanning at borders. Now you know!

Have a good fall, y'all!

Back To School

It's time for back to school. In my world, it means that the days at the lab grow longer and quieter. I'm actually the only one here right now. I also find myself daydreaming about fresh school supplies. I'm a post-it junkie. I also like new pens, graph paper, fresh spiral notebooks and sharpies that still have their points. I have a plethora of school supplies and no need for new ones. Usually, I still end up with new school supplies. This year, I (gasp!) organized what I had and chose from that stash.

Enough about school supplies. It's an interesting year. I'm the chief of staff for graduate student government. This means I sit there and look pretty. I am also on the library committee. This exciting committee meets once a year. The job also includes legal aid, meaning I hand out forms to the handful of students who request legal aid each year. And then I sit in senate meetings and cabinet meetings and steering meetings. For the record, I get paid for this glamorous job. On paper, my primary job is to keep Erin sane. Have to earn my keep somehow, right?

My research is moving forward nicely. I'm at a bit of a turning point, where I'm no longer working toward the same outcome as before. Same materials, different goal. If you want the whole story, let me know and I'll explain it as soon as I understand it myself. I swear I've been reading the same page for days. But the quiet at the lab is killing me. The summer students are gone. The undergrads are back in classes and only here two days a week. Courtney is working every other day at Tetramer. Tiffany is writing at home. Alex is in classes. Steph is here most days, but is fostering a dog who requires attention, so I am actually completely alone today.

I've turned into the local go-to poster child for "took medication for my ADD and I turned out fine". Mom works with a lady who asked to talk to me about my experience with it. Apparently, this worked out so well for her that she told friends about it and they want to meet with me too. I've come to a conclusion that this is for the kids, and someone who knows (ie: not Tom Cruise) should share what they can. It doesn't mean I've got the right answer or the wrong answer. It just means that I'm not crazy and talking about things I don't know anything about. I've actually got the experience with it and want to help the kids. I'm such a sucker for kids.

Speaking of kids, I'm still mentoring Ozaria, who will be starting 4th grade this year, hopefully at a new school where she can be better understood. I'm also working with a team to revive the mentor program at church and hopefully get more of the kids in her neighborhood connected with their own mentors. It's going to be a lot of work, but we have a team of four who all care deeply about those kids. Can't wait to see things moving forward!

Our house is like home base for every sort of strange bug known to mankind. We had the war on the black widows. Then there are these two enormous writing spiders in the bushes. I like those. Scratch that, I TOLERATE those. They are both interesting and docile, so I let them make their home in my bushes. Their full width (legs and all) probably is the size of my hand. They are both named Charlotte. Yesterday, a boatload of ants made it into my kitchen. I never figured out what drew them there, but I found where they came in outside, so they're all taken care of. Then there are these long skinny bugs that I've been calling devil bugs because their tails look like forked tongues. Creepy bugs. We also have animals. Bunnies like the cherries in our yard. So they're always out there. The squirrels like them too. And the birds. There was a dog who sleeps on our porch every once in a while. And I saw a garden snake once. On another note, we have a pecan tree in our yard. I hope our neighbors don't get any ideas. They're already creepy enough without them walking around in our yard stealing pecans. Plus. I have every intention of picking them up myself. We're gonna have a bucket.

Chris is working hard, as always. Harder than ever, in fact. He's got added hours so he's been getting home later. And more tired. We've decided to change small groups. The group we're in is intended for young singles, so we decided to visit a few other groups and see what comes of it. Tonight we're visiting a group whose leader Chris has played softball with for years.

We went to Asheville on Saturday. I bought yarn for our Christmas stockings and am already 2/3 done with Chris'. I may have also bought some red cashmere for myself. I'm thinking gloves. I'm working on a gray sweater that will be so comfy when it's done. And I'm almost done with Christmas presents. Also managed to make myself a blue shawl and finish my purple sweater in there too. I just have to finish Amy's (and yes, it will be finished this year).

This weekend is the first Clemson game. Chris has an autocross that day, so I'm going up to Greenville to watch the game on the enormous screen at Chateau Burka. Apparently Mo will be there too, so it's a party!

And that's all the news that's fit to print!

Harry Potter

For the lone person who hasn't heard, I'm a bit of a Harry Potter fan(atic). With the release of the final movie this week, I've been thinking a lot about the influence the books and movies have had on my life.

Harry and his world have been a part of my life since July 25th, 1999. I received the second book in the series, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, as a birthday present. Mom had read the first book and liked it, so she bought me the second one, not realizing that they were a continuous story. That was the summer I turned 13. We visited Dad in Philly, then hopped in the car and brought him home, by way of several major American landmarks. And I read Harry Potter the whole way. I can still see Amy and I on either end of the backseat, listening to Backstreet Boys cds and swapping them out every once in a while, all while I was reading this book. It was a long trip home, with stops at Hershey Park, Monticello, and Gettysburg (not to mention all the sights in Philly). We were still in Virginia when I finished the book. I remember this clearly, as I begged my parents to stop and buy me the first one. My wonderful parents, always willing to encourage my ravenous reading habit, managed to find a Borders in a day and age when your cell phone, if you had one, couldn't possibly tell you where the nearest ANYTHING was, let alone hold the e-book. And the rest is history.

Since then, I've celebrated nearly every birthday in conjunction with the release of a Harry Potter book and/or movie. The books always came out right before Amy's birthday, so she'd get a copy and I'd have to wait the week and a half until I got my own copy. I remember going to The Open Book with my mother at 7am the day the book came out to get our books, which she had them gift-wrap. I could touch it, but I wasn't allowed to read it. We even picked up the British editions when we went to London. It was a feat to find copies a few times, with my parents driving to Easley and back the summer after my freshman year of college. They'd come for dinner on my birthday and hadn't produced a copy of the book, so I was sadly without reading material that night. Until they showed back up later that night with a copy. I finished it at 5am. All of the books were overnight reads. I couldn't possibly be prevailed upon to put it down.

J.K. Rowling fed my imagination like no other author before or since has been able to do. When the first movies came out, I was worried. I was afraid they would take away my ability to imagine that world, just the way I wanted it to be. Instead, it was a wonderful supplement to my imagination. The movies started coming out in 2001. On Thursday night, I'll be in line by 10pm to see the final movie. Many folks immediately start looking for the differences between the book and the movie. All I've ever wanted to do is savor every last minute of it.

If there's one thing that can be said about Harry Potter fans, it's that we're loyal. Most of us grew up right alongside these characters. They're in our hearts and part of our lives. I commented to Chris that I don't know what to do when it all ends. There's no more books, no more movies, never anything new again. It's not likely that I'll spiral into an emotional pit. More likely, I'll look for something to replace it. But there's nothing out there. From the intellectual standpoint, Harry Potter is incredibly well-written, with wonderfully researched characters. Many of the peripheral characters draw their names from myth, folklore, etc. It's a kind of creativity I envy. J.K. Rowling has talked in interviews about the fact that she's known how it would end since the first book. She's had these major plotlines all stored up in her head, just waiting to be put to paper.

So. Instead of lamenting the end of a long 12 years with Harry Potter, I'm going to appreciate the impact it has had on my life, helping to make me the reader I am today. It's been with me all these years, and it's not going anywhere anytime soon. Jo Rowling herself put it quite eloquently at the premiere of this final movie: "the stories we love best do live in us forever...Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home."

No, Darth Vader isn't relevant, but it's a fantastic picture.

June

I'm back to my old, never-posting ways, aren't I? I suppose it's not a crime to fail to blog. Chris and I stay busy with one thing or another, but I suppose you don't want excuses.

In the month of June, Amy moved to Atlanta, I went to a bunch of boring meetings, Chris and I and Mom and Dad went to Charleston for a wedding, our small group had a party at the lake, and we had car trouble.

It has rained a lot lately. It has also been exceptionally hot. The rain, I should clarify, doesn't always actually happen. It gets crazy windy, very dark, and we get storm warnings. These pop-up storms are difficult to locate. Chris and I live in a bit of a valley, so we often miss the actual rain completely. Occasionally, however, the storms look like this...

For his birthday (technically, we did this in May), I took Chris to a Braves game, as usual. I find Braves games more relaxing than most other sporting events, because the end result of the game doesn't really affect me too much. I'm a fan, don't get me wrong, but I don't express extreme distress over the loss of a game. For the record, the guy behind us was just making this face for fun, because the game hadn't started yet. 

Also, we sit in the same spot every time, so I have a lot of pictures from this angle. 

I've had the nursery quite a few times this summer. The three-year-olds are a handful. Especially when they are all in there together rather than the usual split services. Seventeen. That's a lot. This particular day made me want to scream. See the boys fighting in the back? But the girls got in the baskets and that made me laugh.

 I've done quite a bit of knitting this summer. Finished a sweater, and some other things. Most of the pictures can't go here because they're Christmas presents. But here are a few. This is a cowl. The green really can't be understood in a picture. It seems to either wash out or get too sharp. It's very richly green.

These are some fingerless mittens I made to keep my hands warm at the lab. It's cold there. 

I took this picture while we were in Charleston for Bonnie and Chad's wedding. I'm a huge fan of symmetry. The wedding was fun and it wasn't too hot in town that weekend, so I'm declaring the trip a success. Also, mom got dad to wear seersucker pants. Granted, he did buy that ugly belt...

We had a party at the house on the 4th. Ozaria (and Chris) helped me make these fun streamer things for decoration. We just paint stamped a star on each and we were good to go! Much fun was had by all and the fire didn't burn down the neighborhood.

 And that's all the news from Lake Wobegon. We're recovering from the party and should be ready to go by the time the next one comes around!

Some of the Wedding Photos

I've kinda got a lot of photos from the wedding. It's mind-boggling. And, because Craig and Lindsay are the best, ALL of the photos are fantastic. But there are a few that stick out for various reasons. Allow me to share a few.

This is mom's absolute favorite ever. She had Craig retouch it twice, and this is the beautiful result:

This one. Good grief, how can your heart not break when you see this one?

 

We framed this one. It's so dramatic!

This is one of my favorite A-to-Z photos of all time. I think it's because Zach looks like he's eating Wendy's head.

Cool, huh?

The only picture that actually shows the rain. You'd never have thought it was raining all day if it weren't for this one. And I love it.

The appeal of this one is obvious. Can I just point out how fantastic the sepia is? We love it. 

I got that gigantic family photo that I asked for. Thanks everyone!

I like the angle and colors in this one. Very fun.

Oh small group. You make me smile. :) See? 

I would love this one anyway, but Jess' face in the back makes it even better. I don't even know. Also, Aunt Rose is having a Stevie Nicks moment. But this photo is beautiful.

Pure art. The lovely Miss Serena. Could this photo be any more beautiful?

I had to stop somewhere. What I love every time I go through our photos is how much fun it looks like everyone had. Which is what I wanted to see. There are so many moments. Plenty of happy smiling faces to go around. This last photo is epic. And doesn't even tell the story of mom and the massive pile of sparklers. :)

Ummm...the entire month of May?

Hi folks. Been a while. I know. But Chris reminded me to post, so here I am. I think next time he reminds me, I'll point out that his name is on the blog too now. Perhaps I should let him post. It would be quite entertaining. Anyway, I figured it's a good time to post. Chris has taken an absurd interest in the NHL playoffs. I feel the need to remind him we live in South Carolina. I'm a southern girl. The only reason I've ever paid attention to hockey was because of the fights. And the Grrrowl. They were fun, but I wasn't paying for tickets. So, while Chris gets his hockey fix (For the record, I actually do know which teams are involved and stuff. Vancouver just won their series. Right now, Boston and Tampa are playing what is actually a pretty fierce game.)

So, the good news is that I do have pictures from the last little while. Because I rock. Let's start with the Orange and White game. Everyone loves a good Clemson game, even when the team is playing each other. On the bright side, there's always a Clemson win! And, this year, Chris didn't get sunburned!

The next weekend was Jess and Ross' wedding. We had a good time hanging out in GA for that. Jess and I did some major mall-walking the morning of the wedding. Hey, we had to do something. 

With all these storms going on, the closest we've gotten is this:

In case you can't tell, that's a softball field. For some reason, the interstate is the line along which the storms part. It storms and hails and everything NORTH of 85. And we live south of it. But Chris plays softball north of the line. This game was the Tuesday after Jess and Ross' wedding. I learned something here: adult softball leagues do not follow the same rules as public pools. You'd think they'd be worried if there's thunder. I can understand playing on in the rain unless it begins to flood the field and make it unsafe, but thunder? Really? It monsooned off and on during this game. And we three fans huddled under the teensy overhang of the utility building and attempted to keep the score properly. Not too pretty, those skies.

We had Chris' family over to the house for mother's day. We had pot roast and strawberry shortcake and it was delicious. Also, we got our our china and crystal for the first time, just because we could. 

And then there was graduation. That's right, our Amy is officially a Clemson graduate (which is the only way to go). We had a telephoto lens and a lot of fun. We also lost several members of the family at one point. here are Chris and I, holding seats before things started.

 

After what felt like hours, Amy's row finally got their turn. We'd been texting Amy and Chris had started playing hangman on his phone at this point. Can you blame us? The ceremony was 3 hours long. The poor folks in the morning ceremony went 3.5 hours. They barely got out in time for us to go in. 

You can see it well here, Amy and Claire put black glitter on their caps. Very sparkly. We could find them across the room.

I had Dad text her and tell her to lean out and look right. She gave us quite the pose. 

I rather like this photo, despite the fact that my camera was still set up for the inside of the arena. Whoops!

 

And at dinner afterward, G-pa gave Chris and I our owls. I think he might have exaggerated my lack of height a bit. But they've taken up their spot on our mantle and look quite at home. Thanks G-pa!

The whole party, sans Mom, the photographer. That box in Amy's lap is her new letterpress tool (because Chris and I are awesome). She clearly went out for ink this week, because we just got a fantastic letterpressed thank-you card. Very cool!

 

I don't know if I've mentioned it, but I've taken up a new hobby. I cut our friend Darren's hair for him, because all he wants is a buzz cut. I've offered to cut other people's hair, but they seem to not want a buzz cut. But this time, I played around a bit before I cut it all off. Yep, I just left the top. Next time, he's getting a mohawk, at least long enough for everyone to enjoy it.

I went to work late so I could watch the shuttle launch live. I'm a dork. But it was awesome.

And I'm rather excited about this last one. I've worked at the AMRL for like 5 years, and we've never had a sign to tell anyone where our building was. So we finally got these cool signs this week. Fantastic.

If I get time this evening, I'll also share a post of my favorite photos from the wedding. I have a lot of those.

Some date in late April

 

In exchange for helping her plant her blackberry bushes, mom kindly gave us the pots from them. Our Christmas trees finally have a home. And yes, it's in our driveway. They've grown quite a bit since then, but they're certainly not tall enough to be even Charlie Brown's Christmas trees. For the record, I ended up with three because the incredibly funny old man made friends with me before I knew what was happening. At which point he promptly convinced me to take three because he couldn't go home until they were gone. Yep, he played the pity card. Worked like a charm.

April 24, 2011

 

I know, I know, it's been a while. Chris not-so-subtly reminded me just now. We've been busy. You'll see in a bit. Since I've been such a slacker, I'll do a proper post.

But first, I wanted to give you this lovely picture of Chris. This is our Easter picture. In honor of all the Easter pictures of Amy and I in front of the dogwood tree, I demanded that Chris stand in front of our no-longer-blooming dogwood tree. Because Easter means dogwood trees. He was kind enough to oblige me with this cell-phone picture. I'm sure this'll never make any family albums, but it makes me laugh.

April 22, 2011

Went to Lowe's and got a free tree. But the guy wouldn't let me leave without all three types. So we are going to grow the next few Christmas trees in pots in the driveway. Because where else are you supposed to put trees when you are renting?