The list, cont'd...

Wellness Center
I recently joined the new Wellness Center in town. I wasn't working out at home, I wasn't working out on campus, and I am more out of shape than ever, so I finally decided I needed to have some money on the line. I definitely have been working out more, but I also have been eating more. The good news is that they are balancing each other out, the bad news is that maintaining my weight was not my goal, I will be trying to get the eating under control soon. One thing at a time though, right?

As a result of joining the Wellness Center I was able to run into an old high school friend, Angie. She is so great, and we have already had lunch together once. It was a hoot catching up and I hope we will do it again soon.

Dinner for Papaw's Birthday
We met mom, dad, Linda, and Papaw at the Harbor House restaurant near Telford for a seafood dinner in celebration of a late Father's Day and an early birthday. I hate that we don't see him much.

Weekend at Restaurant
After we left the Father's Day/Birthday dinner we headed to Oak Ridge to see Dylin and Amber and to help out at the restaurant while Tuan's parents went to a wedding in Atlanta. Tuan's mom informed us after we got there that there was a party of 18 coming on Saturday night. Saturday's are usually pretty slow so we figured it wouldn't be a problem. Boy were we wrong...not only did the 18 people come in, but 13 other people decided to come in at the same time, and one couple saw the crowd and decided to walk out. The restaurant only seats about 40 anyway, and it was me, Tuan and Trung working without their parents. We did okay, and everyone was patient, but I don't think everyone got exactly what they ordered.

Leadership Series
Tuan and I have recently signed up for a Leadership Series Bible Study at our church, we were invited by our pastor to particpate in the 8 week study, we are almost halfway through and have enjoyed it so far. It is a very small group so it has allowed for discussion.

Craziness at work with Club Registration
Things have been really hectic at work lately. The Tennessee Board of Regents has a requirement that all student organizations register with us each year so that we know they are still active. The policy should not be a surprise, but this year everyone has put it off. I think it is because we are doing it online now. The online process is actually easier and removes the need to run all over campus getting signatures, but the pure change of it seems to be putting people off. I think we are about finished with the madness. The other thing is that our Dierks Bentley/Miranda Lambert/Randy Rogers Band concert is coming up soon, so I am supposed to be planning for that and Homecoming as well. Needless to say, a lot is going on. One Psychiatry faculty member came to learn the new registration process (which actually students should be doing) and made the statement that she was going to write a dissertation on how things shouldn't chance. She was a kooky woman!

Augusta, GA
The weekend after we worked at the restaurant we went to Augusta, GA to see Mark, Karissa, Kensington and Kallaghan. We got there late on Friday and then were able to spend a beautiful day together on Saturday just walking around and enjoying the great weather. Kensington has grown so much and is such a fun and good spirited little girl, Kallaghan is such a handsome baby and was perfect while we were there. They say he is normally fussy, but I don't believe is at all.

We had to rush back on Sunday because Patrick, Lanie and Deacon were at mom and dad's and they were all coming up for dinner. We had dad's favorite dinner of Vietnamese Sausages and rice and then we played Hot Shots golf for a bit. Deacon is too funny and looks a lot like Baby Bob from the Quizno's commercials.

Last weekend (the first weekend in October)
was a crazy weekend. On Friday night I went to Mom's church for their annual Women's Conference. It has grown so much and there were over 300 women there from the Rogersville, TN area. The featured speaker was Lisa Whelchel from the Facts of Life. She was great, the conference was great, and I am always so impressed at the amount of work the women at mom's church put into the conference and the great spirits they have.

So, I spent the night with mom and dad on Friday night and we went to the Conference again on Saturday morning, that afternoon I had to rush back to JC to direct a wedding rehearsal for the most laid back people with the biggest wedding party I have worked with so far and with quite a few little non-traditional touches thrown in. All went well, but for my first wedding to direct alone, I might have preferred something easier. After the rehearsal, Tuan and I took a Thermos of coffee and went to the Ghost Storytelling at the International Storytelling Festival in our town. I had gone on Friday morning at 6am to buy tickets on my way to work out, and found out the reason they were open so early was because the local talk radio station was broadcasting from there. Anyway, the radio guy asked if I wanted to win the tickets I was about to buy, I said that it depended on what I had to do, he said that I just had to walk over and get them, so I did and we ended up going for FREE!

Sunday morning we went to "early" church then to IHOP for brunch and then I spent the day at the church getting ready for the wedding that evening at 4pm. It went well and was beautiful! Nina was great to help me out and did a wonderful job. After the wedding I helped with my first reception and learned to ask many more questions than I did for this one. I am glad to have that first wedding alone under my belt.

Vietnamese Lessons
One of our students, Phuong, has agreed to help me learn Vietnamese for our upcoming trip. She has been amazing and I have learned more in the past 5 lessons than I have learned in years. She has taken the time to teach me the alphabet and some dipthongs so that I can actually pronounce words better on sight. I still have a long way to go on my pronunciation, but I feel so great about my progress. I wish I had started working on it harder a long time ago.