"Falling for Fall"

First, let me apologize for the lack of posting in the past few weeks. I looked at my blog today and was shocked to see that it has been almost a month since I last put something up here. My primary excuse is that I was not prepared for how much time 40 hours a week is. By the time I get home and we eat dinner, it's almost time to start thinking about getting ready for bed. On a normal night. Which we don't seem to have much. ;) Our weeks filled up pretty quickly, with softball on Monday, my Ladies' Bible study every other Tuesday (with dates in between), having the youth over Wednesday and Brian's evening class on Thursday (which does give me time to hang out with Hannah). By the time we get to Friday, I'm tired! I've already been working over two months, but I feel like I'm still trying to adjust to this new schedule. So apology aside, on to the reason for this post...

Fall. (or Autumn, whichever you prefer) I've decided that Fall is my favorite season. Mostly because it's the season I miss the most. Seasons in our corner of Texas are divided into two categories: summer and not-summer. I do ok with the heat until this time of year. In September, I know not to expect cool temperatures, and I think I've adjusted to that. But by October? I want cool mornings. And cool afternoon breezes.

Maybe what I miss even more than the temperature change is the color change of the trees on the mountains. Bristol is nestled in the foothills of the Appalachians. Fall is absolutely gorgeous becuase we're surrounded by mountains full of red, yellow, orange trees. I realized in going through our pictures on the computer, I have no pictures of our area in the fall. But I have to share some photos, so I browsed the net. I found lots of pics that were almost too vivid for anyone to believe if you've never seen it in person, so I went with a couple photos that were a bit more subdued. The photo with the bridge is the bridge we drive over on the way to PA to visit my Dad's parents, so I actually know where that is, and I've been there. I'm not sure where the other photo is. But they're both beautiful, and give a pretty good idea of what I think of when I think of Fall.

(Ok, I just couldn't resist one more with brighter colors)

Go! Daddy, Go!

Two kind of stories I remember growing up with: helicopter stories from my Dad's year in Vietnam, and racing stories from his days on the road racing circuit. My Dad was already involved in racing when he and my Mom met. He said he'd quit once they had kids, but I was definitely old enough to cheer at his races before he quit. (hence the blog title) He gave it up sometime after my sister was born, but he always wanted to get back into it. All my life, as a companion to the racing stories, was the refrain of how much he wanted to race again.

Twenty-five years after his last race, Dad's dream is coming true. He and a friend Steve Layfield have gone in together to start a team. They've bought a car (a spec Miata) and a trailer to haul it in, and are currently shopping for driving uniforms. I am in charge of designing a team logo, as well as team t-shirts. (hope that means I get mine free!) We're all brain-storming to try and come up with a name for this team. Dad & I first came up with "Geezers-A-Go-Go", but Steve didn't like it. Guess he's not old enough to be considered a geezer. ;)

I'm so excited for my Dad, to see this long-term dream come true. I'm looking forward to cheering for him again in future races. This time, I'll be old enough to actually know what's going on!

For those of you who are wondering what a "spec Miata" is...

Hopefully soon I'll be able to get and post some pics from Dad's previous racing career. In my opinion, (no slight to Mazda) I like his old Sprite better. They really knew how to make good looking cars back then.

WAR EAGLE!!

This past weekend Brian and I travelled out to Alabama to visit family and go to an Auburn game. I haven't been at an Auburn game in about four years, so I was really excited to be at a game. It brought back all kinds of memories of being in school, marching in pre-game, and trying to get back to our trailer after the game.

Saturday morning we all (Mom, Dad, Carrie, Grandmom, Brian and I- quite a group) piled into the Tahoe for the drive down to Auburn. Carrie & I entertained / annoyed everyone else with music from the marching band cd for the first 30 minutes of the trip. We just needed to set the mood! :) We met my friend and mentor (and former CAD teacher) Cindy for lunch, at a great local sandwich place called Momma Goldberg's. Cindy and I still talk about once a month. She encourages me and laughs at my crazy stories of life in the Architecture world.

After lunch, we walked around campus a bit. Things have certainly changed in the four years since I graduated. I was amazed at how pretty the campus looked. I regret now that I don't have pictures, but it didn't occur to me at the time. We braved the crazy, packed bookstores for t-shirts, decals and other game-day paraphenalia, and then finally, it was game time!!

I was very excited to be at a game. I lost count of the times I leaned over and told my Dad just that. ;) It was great to see the band's pre-game show and just soak in the atmosphere. But then the evening went rapidly down-hill. Any of you who watched the game on tv know that this game was not the best performance by an Auburn football team. Finally during the last half of the fourth quarter, the Auburn players came alive and pulled out a win. Then it was lots of fun - jumping up and down, yelling and cheering. There's just nothing quite like being there.

Winning the game meant that I got to introduce Brian to another Auburn tradition: rolling Toomer's Corner. Toomer's Corner is so named because of Toomer's Drugstore that has sat at the intersection of two main roads in downtown Auburn. After an Auburn win, fans go up to Toomer's and "roll" (yes, with rolls of toilet paper) the trees on the corner opposite the drugstore. As you can imagine, it makes quite a mess, but it's tradition! I have no idea how this one got started, but I'm sure someone in my family does. (If you're reading and you know, please feel free to comment) The effect is really neat - kind of like weird snow.

Anyway, it was a great weekend. Even though we didn't get back to Birmingham until 2:30 in the morning. We all definitely took naps Sunday afternoon after church. We got to visit the rest of the weekend with my family, which was really great. Living out here in Texas, I don't get to spend enough time with them.