Mackinac Island Saturday, September 22, 2007

As you know, Erik and I grew up in Michigan. The weird thing is, during all of those years living there, I had NEVER been to Mackinac Island! (It's a small island between the mittin and the UP on Lake Huron). Erik had been only once before, when he was a wee one, so he barely remembered it. It was just the little getaway we needed! We've had a super busy summer, so were excited to go away, just the two of us :) There are no cars allowed on the island, so we brought our bikes and peddled our way around for the few days we were there. It was absolutely beautiful. Everywhere you looked, there was water. And horse poop. That's right, the second most popular mode of transportation was horseback or carriage rides. Either way, horse patties littered the streets and we did our best to dodge them as we road around. The day it rained, we got back to our room (at the AMAZING historic Inn we stayed in) and our coats and pants were covered with mud...at least we hoped it was mud!

Here's the loveboat, all loaded up and ready to catch the ferry in St. Ignace. We spent some time at Erik's parents house before heading to Mackinac.

The Grand Hotel (above) was so much bigger than I expected it to be. We didn't stay there, for one, because it was WAY out of our price range, and after 6pm all men HAD to be dressed in suit and tie while the women were not allowed to wear pants. That is SO not our style, so we settled for marveling at its beauty from the sidewalk. The hotel has a rich history, opening back in 1887!

This is where we stayed, the Inn at Stonecliffe. Uh-mazing.

It was around 40 degrees the first morning we set out exploring. I didn't bring gloves, so I used my fleece! I think Erik was embarrassed by me!

In case you didn't get enough (I went a little picture crazy), click here to see the whole album.

Linda's 60th Friday, September 14, 2007

Erik's Mom turned 60! Last weekend we loaded up the "loveboat" and headed up north to celebrate with her. It was a huge bash with 30-40 of her dearest and oldest friends. A few of her oldest friends were college buddy's (The Nurds, as they call themselves) who have stayed in touch all of these years and still get together every year. We partied all evening at this amazing Bed & Breakfast in Bellaire, MI (on Torch Lake). It was such a beautiful event to celebrate the life of such a lovely woman!

Gotta love the two-seater!

Shuffleboard is actually a very violent sport.

Raccoon Mountain 10K Monday, August 27, 2007

What a beautiful day for a race! This past Saturday, we headed to Chattanooga with my sister and her husband to run the Raccoon Mtn "Round the Rim" 10K. Actually, Kevin and I ran the 10K while Erik and Amber ran the 5K. We left Knoxville at 4:45am to get there in time to register and everything. Yeah, so, by the time the race started I had already been awake for about 4 hours! My coffee buzz was wearing off and I had become lethargic from the drive down. Even so, it was the most fun! Only 180 runners, really laid back and informal. Just the way I like it :) We ran around the "rim" of this huge reservoir, it was really pretty. There was a nice cool breeze at the start, believe it or not. This was surprising to me b/c it's been about 100 degrees here every day.

Here's a view of the reservoir.

Ah, and now we have the post-race shots. We're awake! That little banner in the background was the finish line

I don't think Erik and Kevin planned to be twins. And, Amber and I didn't plan on looking like weirdos (below). It just happened.

These were the worst race shirts EVER! Tank tops? Come ON!

We spent a lovely afternoon in DT Chattanooga, in the historic art district. These pics were taken in a very interesting sculpture garden.

Divers. It made me want to go swimming.

Local Runs Thursday, August 23, 2007

I love finding new places to run. Lately, I've been feeling like I've pretty much exhausted my options in Knoxville for new trails. Then, a couple of weeks ago, I stumbled upon this beautiful road called Melton Lake Drive. It has a running trail (Greenway) that runs along the bank of the Lake for about 3.5 miles. So, you can get a good 7 miler in by running out and back. It's absolutely beautiful! I ran it this morning, pretty early, so some of the thick fog was still hanging around, just on top of the water. Everything was completely still. Even though it's been ridiculously hot here, this morning there was a nice cool breeze coming off of the water.


The cool thing about this Lake is that it's actually a part of the Clinch River, which is one of the best rowing venues in the United States. A "rowing mecca", if you will. The Greenway runs right along the starting point for many of the rowing competitions, and you even get run right under the judges tower. Erik still hasn't run with me here, I need to get him out there! We've been training for a race in Chattanooga which is this weekend.

Shared Governance Sunday, August 19, 2007

A weekend at a cabin in the Smokies is not what I would typically think of when I think of a business meeting. But, in fact, that is what I did this weekend when my manager took all of the Team Leaders on a retreat. We stayed at the cabin of one of the Vascular Surgeons that we work with. He is a great support to nurses and has a vested interest in helping nursing grow as a profession. I think someone should have done a documentary on what transpired during our time at the cabin this weekend. It was collaborative time of sharing ideas and thoughts on how to improve our processes and introducing new standards for our unit. For those of you who don't know, I work on the Vascular Surgery and Transplant Unit (VSTU) at UT Hospital. We are adopting a Shared Governance model of nursing, so more of the decision-making responsibility goes to the nurses instead of the board or administration. I get to implement some research studies on our unit and use it to bring about change. What a beautiful thing...

I absolutely love working with these crazy peeps! We had a great time.

Joe cooked for us ALL weekend. For his next career, he should definitely be a chef! We had some amazing eats, like, corn pudding, chicken caserole, dressing, lima bean casserole, blueberry bread cake, mississippi mud pie, sausage cheese grits, and Mimosas for breakfast!
I think we all gained 20 lbs over the last few days :)

Yes, that is a Christmas tree in the picture. It was a strange thing...the whole cabin was still decorated for Christmas! They obviously hadn't had time to use it since then!