Why, hello fall!

Welcome to the best four months of the year.  Seriously, I’m not kidding.  Let me explain…

September: As this week proved, September is when the air starts to get a little cooler in the mornings, and night time walks with the pups require a hoodie or a fleece.  Absolute best feeling ever.  Football season has officially begun, including tailgating.  You have an excuse to do back-to-school shopping, and Hound Ears is less than a month away.

October: Now fall is in full swing, pumpkin flavored lattes, cakes, muffins, ice cream and even pancakes.  It’s everywhere, and you will never find this girl complaining about that.  You get to start brainstorming Halloween costume ideas, scouring thrift stores, and hosting pumpkin carving parties. Add in a corn maze and the North Carolina State Fair, and you’re as close to a 10 as a month can get.  Plus, it’s now officially okay to start listening to Christmas music.  Don’t even bother commenting on that one.  No one will ever convince me otherwise.

November: Halloween may be over, but the pumpkin foods are not.  Now we’re getting excited for a much needed Thanksgiving break, and a trip to the mountains.  It’s officially cold and I can start wearing my favorite hats and scarves.  Christmas music is now popping up on the radio and in malls…

December: Rejuvenated from Thanksgiving break, you’re now ready to attack the holiday season full force.  Christmas shopping, apartment decorating, holiday parties and visits with Santa at the mall.  Pumpkin is still available most places, in addition to some delicious gingerbread options.  Add in a nice 1-2 week break, and I’m loving life.  A lot.

So when it got cool this week and I got to really think about the season we were approaching I realized it was time to share a little of this joy with others.  Thankfully Jill was in town from DC, so we got a chance to start the celebrating.  Including our first high school football game of the season…

SATURDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL GAME:  7

Despite the sky spitting on us all day, and throughout the night, I’m pretty grateful KIPP was playing locally.  Gave me an excuse to throw on a hoodie, brave the rain, see some of my favorite students, and witness a huge win for the Panthers!  -3 for the rain (meaning we couldn’t sit down, my toes got pretty wet, and my body took about 2 hours to get rid of my goosebumps).

KIPP CHEERING SECTION: 9

HIGHLY entertaining.  Not always the friendliest of comments (hence the -1), but I loved how disproportionate our vocal presence was to our physical presence

PUMPKIN SPICED LATTES: 9

Yup, after diving in on Thursday I’m worried the seasonal addiction has begun again.  Loved every second of this guy.

Still not over the price

After some afternoon shopping at Southpoint, Jill and I headed to Cheesecake Factory for lunch.

JILL’S ABILITY TO HANDLE THE LARGE, BOOK-LIKE MENU: 2

20 minutes later she was ready to order.

MUSHROOM LETTUCE WRAP @ CHEESECAKE FACTORY: 9

I’m loving several of their vegan menu items, and decided to go with their Mushroom Lettuce Wrap.  Sauteed mushrooms with crunchy rice-like noodle guys, and giant pieces of lettuce to wrap it up in.  Seriously delicious!  And only $5.95.  Meaning I left Cheesecake Factory paying a total of $8.  Unheard of.  Even at the food court.

Was hungry a couple hours later, so not the most filling meal, but still worth it

After some serious Felicity marathon watching, and a visit to City Bev with great people, we headed out to the mountains.

HANGING ROCK HIKE: 7

I’ve heard a lot about Hanging Rock, and since visiting Blacksburg more recently I drive by the sign on the way there and the way back.  So this weekend was the time to check it out.

2 hours later we arrived.  A bit deceiving, as it was easily 30 minutes off of the highway where I thought it was going to be.  -1.

When we arrived we were presented with several options for hikes.  We went with the classic ‘Hanging Rock’ hike, a total of 3 miles round trip.  Rated ‘Moderate’, I would say that was a bit of an overstatement.  ’Light Moderate’ would be more accurate.  There were some steep portions, but it was pretty short and not very rigorous.

This is great for an afternoon stroll, but I like to earn my views.  I also like to avoid loud children.  Especially when there are a lot.  And the more strenuous the hike, the less loud children.  And people in general.  -1.

That said, boy were the views amazing.  For an hour hike up, we were definitely rewarded with some of the best views I’ve seen since Maine last month.

Now I know you’re wondering about the last point.  See the ledge we’re sitting on right there?  Yeah, it’s a straight drop down.  Which not only makes me nervous for myself (which it does), but also for all those people I mentioned earlier.  Especially the kids.  NERVOUS. WRECK.   -1.

HIKING WITH MURPH: 6

I love how much Murph likes to hike.  I love how tired he is after a long day of hiking (as I type, he’s sleeping next to me quietly).  And one of the reasons I wanted a dog in the first place was to take him hiking.

However, what I didn’t have in mind was him dragging me up mountains.  And then down again.

I swear I use twice as much muscle on every hike just pulling the opposite direction of him so I don’t tip over.  Case in point:

Don’t worry.  We made up once we got to the top.

Until we started hiking down, that is.

Once we finished we still had plenty of day in front of us, so we drove home (and by ‘we’ I mean ‘I’, while Jill slept like a baby in the passenger seat and Murph napped peacefully in his bed in the back of the car) and headed to the Tobacco Trail.  My new apartment complex offers free bike rentals and I’ve been meaning to try them out.  After handing over a check for $350 (which I got back as soon as the bike did) we were on the road again.

TOBACCO ROAD BIKE RIDE: 10

I love biking.  And you can’t beat a nice paved road with minimal hills, and good company.  I love biking with music, but I like biking with conversation even more.  Plus the temperature was PERFECT.  Long-sleeved shirt, no sweat, a nice fall breeze, and occasional whiffs of burning wood.

What a great way to end the day

Until next time, just living for the tens!

First Day of My New Life

This might take some getting used to.  And a lot of discipline.

I’m beginning to realize my ‘new life’ is going to have a lot of freedom.  As of right now I’m taking 3 classes during the Fall semester (recommended by my advisor and putting me at ‘full time’), one of which is online.  The other two are at night, from 4:10-6:55 on Wednesdays and Thursdays.  That leaves a LOT of ‘free’ time.  Right now without any work it probably feels like more time than it will later when I have a lot to work on.  But either way, if I don’t have a solid action plan, it would be easy to nap/relax/facebook/blog the day away.  So I’m currently working on my new organization system to figure out the best way to keep myself motivated and on task.

I also started looking for part-time jobs, right now specifically baby-sitting/tutoring/personal chaffeur.  It seems to me the ideal job is one that allows me a certain amount of potential flexibility depending on the work load during different weeks.  So I’ve left some messages and posted on Craigslist and we’ll see what comes of that.

Some ratings from my new life:

NAVIGATING A SUPER LARGE STATE SCHOOL: 2

I just don’t like it.  I feel like every time I go somewhere I struggle to find parking, get inside and then wait in line just to find out I forgot to bring something or need to visit some other building first.  I thought it was bad at AU, but it turns out that’s nothing.  At least there you can walk between all the buildings!  My new plan = drive in to campus with my bike, park and then travel by two wheels the rest of the day.  You can lock it up anywhere, get around quicker than walking, and get a work out all at the same time.  Going to try it out tomorrow.  I’ll keep you posted.

MY EXCITEMENT ABOUT GOING TO A SCHOOL WITH SCHOOL SPIRIT AND A FOOTBALL TEAM: 10

I CAN’T WAIT FOR FALL!!!  Who’s down for tailgating and football?!?

RETURN TO THE TOBACCO TRAIL: 7

So after taking care of some minor housekeeping, I got bored of being inside and decided to take my bike out to the Tobacco trail.  It felt great to be outside, and when you’re on a bike it adds a breeze that makes 93 a bit more bearable.  It was still a bit hot, however, so I’ll have to take some points off for that.  My bike has also been acting up again, so couldn’t shift to any of the higher gears.  -1 for that.

ALMOST FALLING OFF MY BIKE AT A CROSSWALK BECAUSE I FORGOT TO TAKE MY FEET OUT: 2.

No injuries left it just being a little scary and probably entertaining for those watching.  One of these days I’m actually gonna wipe out.

Totally pumped to return to Tuesday night climbing tonight at Vertical Edge!

Harrisburg Greenbelt

This morning my mom and I decided to head out early and try out the Capital Area Greenbelt.  A pretty nice bike path, about 20 miles, that runs all over Harrisburg, from the Farm Show building, to Front Street, to some parks back around Cameron Street.  I’ve always known it was there, and have biked parts of it before, but I was pleasantly surprised with how great the whole thing is.

Flat almost the entire way, except for ’2 miles’ of hills at the end (according to my mom), beautiful scenery, and if you wanted to there’s lots of fun stops along the way (the Capital, City Island, Farmer’s Market, etc.).  We had 1 nose bleed stop, 1 map stop, and 1 ‘gotta catch my breath after that giant hill’ stop, but overall we were pretty much rockstars.  This route comes highly recommended to anyone visiting Harrisburg.  One warning, if you’re bringing a road bike, there are definitely some larger (15-20 minutes worth) sections of gravel/loose rock, which is not ideal.  That’s the only thing I’d take a point off for, but if you have a mountain bike you’re good to go.

OVERALL RATING: 9

THOUGHTS OF IMPENDING SORENESS THAT ARE SURE TO FOLLOW TOMORROW: 1.  Serves me right for not working out for 6 weeks while in LA.