the dreaded day.

i knew this day would come eventually, i've just been suppressing the thought to the back of my mind for the past few weeks. after the crazy thunderstorm in the whee monday morning, i noticed that our trees are beginning to look bare. the top third of all of the gorgeous trees on campus so longer have clothes on. so it's true people, winter is going to be just as dull and brown here as it is in southeastern nc. i'm thoroughly enjoying the yellow, red, and orange while i can.

on a much lighter note, schmem came up for a visit this past weekend. friday afternoon was complete with a trip to "the rez" for aimless, touristy wandering. saturday we packed a cooler, hopped on the cat-tran, and showed those catamounts how to tailgate. since they only give us 3 hours to prep for the band's performance [football game at other universities], we had to disregard the food mandate and ignore the '15 minute warning'. those folks were incredibly impressed with the two ncsu alums and one bama grad and were thankful that we taught them the alternate meaning of 'shotgun'.

[note: looking back at this picture of me and the bear, it looks horribly inappropriate. i was simply attempting the redneck stance. this is for you, hawley.]

the downward slope.

just call me miley cyrus--because i've got the best of both worlds. although i have let an excessive amount of four letter words go on I-40 between bladen and jackson counties over the past 3 months, i am the luckiest girl on the planet. i was walking my furry sister at low tide on monday. a little over 24 hours later, i was enjoying peak "leaf time" while i checked my mail. i'm sure you guys have missed my list making tendencies, so here ya go!

10. my souvenir glass from tobacco road [thanks meg!]
9. people watching at the fair.
8. wolfpack shots with kenneth.
7. the fact that my mom tolerated the explosion my suitcase made in her living room. if you know her, you know her OCD was flaring up big time.
6. witnessing the redneck stance and getting cotton candy in the same night.
5. my daddy's corny jokes.
4. halloween socks [i won't tell you how many days i've worn them. thanks haw!]
3. red box.
2. perfect sunday afternoon on the end of the pier.
1. the fact that the semester is more than halfway over!

i had a fabulous fall break and can't wait for my visitors this weekend![check out the sweet foam claw i won on campus today. it was like my own personal "welcome back. we missed you!" western, western, go western. gooooooo cats!]

two 'fer.

so, i've been super slack with this lately. but, fear not-- this post is chock-full of new excursions in the 'wild wild west'. last weekend, T and Hawley came up for a visit. saturday we got all gussied up to 'go out' and went to gorges state park in sapphire. gorges is the newest park in nc, only about 4 years old. the scenery on the way up was gorgeous. glenville lake made me feel like i was home [kind of]. we were greeted with a ton of 'toons and it looked like it had potential to be a pretty fun place. while we were out exploring, we ventured down to whitewater fall at nantahala nat'l forest, paid $2 [yeah, we paid] and enjoyed the scenery. the weekend was topped off sunday morning with a 30 minute ride up and down the parkway looking for the perfect spot and a sub-zero picnic. perfect weekend! i hope my one room very very humble abode didn't scare them away and they'll come back soon!




after a week of mid-term fun, mom came up to keep her sickly girl company. friday we spent most of the day in asheville while bonquisha the civic was at the doctor and then made a side trip to lake lure to try out my early birthday present. although we missed the dirty dancing festival by about a month [i will be attending next year--a watermelon carrying contest, a lake lift contest, and a map of the locations of important scenes. heyyy] saturday we took the scenic route [through cherokee and the great smokey mountains national park] to gatlinburg [umm hello myrtle beach of the mountains] and then on to knoxville. i've added a game at UT to my "to do list." again-- fabulous weekend! i can't wait to be in raleigh this week!

YES! that's a fish eye shot-- my favorite thing about my birthday present. :)