Background: Abby & I eating dinner, a Boston song playing in the background. Me, singing along.

Abby: "You know this song, Mom?"

Me: "Yeah, I know alot of songs. I used to sing this song when I was a kid"

Abby: "Man, this must be an old song"

Hmmm.

I love flowers.



If I had my way, I would have fresh flowers all around my house. As long as I'm having my way, I also would like someone to come and switch out the flowers once they get that "not so fresh feeling" and replace them with fresh new ones. Yeah, that sounds good to me. This person would also make fresh sushi for me on a daily basis. Sorry, getting off topic.



A deterrent for me having a house full of fresh flowers is the cost. Until the day I have my dream garden complete with gerbera daisies, stargazer lilies, daffodils, hyacinths, irises, mums and roses, I have to purchase already cut flowers.




Recently, I found a secret little corner of my Krogers floral department. When the floral department manager sees a bouquet of flowers closing in on their "expiration", they get put in the corner and discounted. They have a big sale tag on them that reads, "Managers Special". The dozen pink roses you see here I purchased for $2.50. They are beautiful and they smell beautiful. Initially, they looked like they were getting close to the end of their time when in fact all they needed was a little TLC, which I happily gave them. A little warm water, a little cut of the stem, a little flower food - they perked right up and performed for me.



Sometimes I need to step back a take a hard look at what I'm putting on "Managers Special" in my life. What am I shoving in the corner so I can have bigger and better? What am I neglecting, what am I overlooking? What needs a little TLC?



I am loving my Managers Special...and being reminded that if I stop long enough to "smell the roses", there are treasures to be found all around me!

Meet Kelsey.



Kelsey has mad photo skills. Her and her husband, Jon, are owners of Focal Point Cinematic Weddings. Not only do they do incredible work, they are super cool peeps as well (and don't even get me started about their line dancing talent).

When my Mom was here visiting last week, we asked Kelsey if she would come and teach us some stuff about our cameras (my Mom just recently purchased a camera identical to mine). So Kelsey brought over her gear and her sweet spirit and we had a great time exploring our equipment.



We also roamed around in the backyard playing with our settings...



My mom and I had a super time and we learned some great stuff too (my mom video taped our discussion for future reference!).

I have to say, one of my favorite parts was test driving a few of Kelsey's lenses. First, the 50mm/f1.8 lens....and then, the "beast" lens. I don't remember the specs on that 2nd lens, but I know it was long, heavy and it brought me one breath away from a panic attack when I attached it to my camera. Whoa big boy...

Warning. Scary toe alert. Don't say that you weren't warned.



Last week my mom was here visiting and us girls got our toes done. All the same color. Such an event called for a photo shoot. I think it's a framer, don't you? What? You don't agree?

Hey, it could have been worse - at least I didn't title it, "3 generations of toe jam".

I hesitated to even put this picture up. My toes look way swoll. (I know that's not appropriate usage of swoll, but I've recently discovered this word and can't stop using it...thanks, Jen O.)

A big shout out to Mom for treating my toes right.

Back in August, I participated in a collaboration put on by my friend Julie Prichard over at Land of Lost Luggage. We are tracking the seasonal progress of a local tree of our choosing. This week everyone is posting their "fall" entry...goody goody!

You all know how I feel about fall, fall trees, fall color, fall weather...anything fall, I'm all about it. You could say, I'm all about fall. HA! Ok, sorry. Let me get the train back to the station.

I need to vent about my tree selection. I am very disappointed in myself for the tree I picked for this project. VERY disappointed. Any of you who know my neighborhood (and my region) know the color there is. But my lady has left me wanting. She's a late bloomer, I knew that from last year - but wasn't thinking about it when I chose her back in August. Nevertheless, I need to stick with her...I'm hoping that for the "winter" submission, she will dazzle me with some snow-covered branches. Let's hope...

So, let's take a closer look at my lady:








Not to make my lady feel bad, but this is the tree I should have chosen...it's right down the street from my house:

Awww...she's a beauty. I'm just sayin.

We took a little day trip down to Sewanee, TN today. For those of you that have been with the Adventures for awhile, you may remember this post from last years trip to Sewanee. It was that trip that helped me to understand that trees here in Tennessee are not the same as my home state.

And if I haven't said it enough already, I have a insatiable obsession for fall foliage. Fall foliage makes me full of folly.

But, there was a little trouble in Sewanee paradise. A little series of storms and strong winds rolled through the region this past week and left my beloved trees much more nekkid than I would have liked. We were informed by the locals that last week was the perfect week - the rains of the season had put such color on the trees - the likes of which have not been seen in some time.

But Sewanee had other delights for me to take in...














We had lunch at the University's cafeteria....don't let the word "cafeteria" fool you. The food was excellent and the dining area was straight up 1800's gothic university motif. I felt like I was part of the cast of Dead Poets Society. Seriously.

So although we did not get to see the trees that I was hoping for, we had a great time roaming around Sewanee and taking in the beautiful sights of this Tennessee gem.