Fall has begun!

The trip home was great, but felt extremely short. Matt and Rhonda's wedding was beautiful and I hope they have a happy marriage. Penne of course came with us and she did pretty good at Brian's house, although Sandy could not stand to be around her without going crazy. She was able to stay in place (one of the commands we have learned) while the dogs got super close, which is a major accomplishment. Penne also made a visit to my house, but she was very reactive with the cats so they had to stay in the bedroom. Otherwise it was fine. As we were heading home on Tuesday, my car had some problems as we approached Knoxville. So we had to go back to East Bernstadt to get my Mom's Jeep. Will have to return the Jeep to Mom soon though since she has her big craft show in early November. Don't know how we are going to change out cars just yet. We may meet up at Asheville to see the Biltmore or Brian and I may come home for WKU's homecoming. It has yet to be determined.

So Fall has begun! The air has gotten crisper and cooler (especially at 6:00am), but the leaves have yet to turn colors here in North Carolina. Hopefully, that will happen soon. Brian and I went to the Piedmont Farmers Market to buy some apples and pumpkins. We bought two large pumpkins and plan to carve them next week so that they will be ready for Halloween. One will be a schnauzer that looks like Penne (mine) and the other is going to be Big Red (Brian's). We also bought three small pumpkins, which I carved out to hold tealights (saw it online). I think they are really cool! The apples we coated with caramel and candy (see pictures above). There are four for me and four for Brian. Brian had gone through three apples and was on his last one when he broke the crown off his front tooth (again see pictures above). He insisted on taking the picture. He got it put back on the next day for way too much money, so I hope that the caramel apple was worth it. Lastly, my mom made Penne a new handkerchief (somehow she is able to keep this one despite her destructiveness) for Halloween. It is so cute with the candy corn. Thanks Mom!

Brian is doing good. Still applying for jobs, now not all of them are architecture because he is needing money. He had his assessment from the one company that contacted him, but they have yet to contact hime for an interview so we still don't know about that one. Otherwise, he is busy working on his graduate school applications and materials. So it is getting pretty busy with that.

I am of course busy with schoolwork and my assistantship. I have another round of tests and paper coming up in the next two weeks, so that is always stressful. My supervisor for my assistantship just informed me today that he will be leaving at the end of this school year. This kind of concerns me. I know that they are getting funding for me to work this summer, which now it looks like I will have a supervisor role in that. But it is a little uncertain as to whether there will be a professor to supervise HOPE/Bariatric Program for next year. I think that they will keep the Bariatric Program because the hospital will fund it, but I don't know who my supervisor will be. Otherwise, I am doing great!

Tomorrow, we are going to Lexington, NC to the BBQ Festival. Apparently it is really good and we are dying to have some BBQ. We will post with pictures and an update on that soon as well.

Panthers vs Bengals Game

Sorry this is a bit late. But better late than never. The pictures were Brian's choice. The second inside the stadium is when there was a downpour.

So my birthday gift was Lady Gaga and Brian's birthday gift (a little late) was a Panthers' football game in Charlotte. It just so happened that the game we wanted to go to was against the Bengals, which of course is the team I like. I initially was going to wear my Bengals gear that I wore to the Colts game a couple years ago, but it turns out my shirt was too short. We both ending up going wearing neutral colors in the hopes of finding a shirt at the stadium.

The drive down wasn't too bad, but it was supposed to rain during the whole game so we left early to hopefully avoid it. Downtown was crazy packed compared to the Lady Gaga concert, but we parked in a parking structure that was really close and fairly cheap. We got inside the stadium just in time as it began to sprinkle. Then we found the Pro Shop, which was horribly crowded. I didn't find anything in my size, but Brian found a pullover rain jacket with the Panthers' logo on the chest on clearance. It looks very nice on him.

Finally, we found our seats. It was amazing luck that our seats just happened to be one of three rows under the awning. Therefore, we didn't get poured on like everyone else at the beginning of the game. We did have rain drop on us some (Brian more than me, good thing he got the jacket), but it really wasn't that bad compared to everybody else's experience that wasn't under the awning. It did eventually stop raining, but the game was ugly anyway.

The Panthers ended up losing, but we had a really great time despite this. I actually cheered for the Panthers to make Brian happy (it wasn't too bad). I think that we would definitely go to another game in a heartbeat, especially if we got tickets under the awning just in case. Leaving the stadium was chaos with so many people. The traffic getting out of Charlotte was even worse, we went like 5 mph for like an hour on the interstate. So we got home a lot later than we expected but overall it was a great experience.

Brian went to UNC-Charlotte's School of Architecture Open House today. I think it went well from what he has said so far. He got some feedback about his portfolio and it seems like the program would be great for him. Some more good news about Brian is that he has corresponded with two employers in the Raleigh area about potential jobs. The one called to get background information and said they would call back again. The other one emailed him almost immediately wanting an interview. It looks like he qualifies for one of three jobs so hopefully he will get one. He has an interview next Wednesday at 10am. Wish him luck.

Today, starts my fall break and it lasts through Tuesday. It is kind of weird because WKU's fall break is on a Thursday/Friday while UNCG's is Monday/Tuesday. I am very happy for a break considering I get to go home and see everybody. Tomorrow, we are attending Matt & Rhonda's wedding and I am very excited for the both of them. It will be nice to have a break from everything and to be home! Will try to post soon.