BEACH!

We had a great vacation with my family in Destin last week. We celebrated Robert's graduation, his 27th birthday, and not having to go to work or school or worry about anything other than sleeping, eating, outlet shopping, and laying out for eight whole days. It was wonderful! Thanks to my family for a great time. The boys got to play some golf, we had lots of fun just chilling at the beach or by the pool, and we ate some great seafood.

One day we headed over to Lilian, Alabama to visit with some of our family on the Summerville side, including my dad's older brother, Uncle Richard, and his sons and their families who live there. Check out the slideshow of pics for their super cute kids: Alex, Erin, Bella, and Jack Summerville. We'd hadn't seen them in forever!

Kyle and I got a kick out of my cousin Wes and his wife Jenny admonishing their cute and mischievous little boy by using his full name with a phrase like, "Jack Summerville, you come here!" Out of my dad and his six siblings, my brothers are the only male Summervilles aside from my cousins Rick and Wes, so we're not used to hearing that name when it doesn't refer to us. My aunt Cathy and cousin Christina and her husband and sweet boys were down visiting as well, so we had a full house. It really was a great time with family.

Here's the view from our balcony and the pool area.


Some more pics from the week are below. For the full album check out the slideshow at the end of the post.

Ultimate Tourney Champs

Robert's corporate ultimate team recently completed in a charity ultimate tournament at George Ward Park. After winning several games in the morning, they advanced to the semifinals in the afternoon and then made it all the way to the championship game. You're looking at the winning team after a long day of competing--practically 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Congrats to Team BE&K. Here are a few shots from the game taken by one of the guys on the team who's pretty handy behind the camera.

Dog Sitting Adventures

Meet Bella...

...and her mama Trixie.

These cuties are our adopted puppies for the week. They're technically not puppies - more like full-grown Yorkies who just happen to be little midget dogs. Seriously, as you can tell, they're just the cutest things ever (and fully grown). We've enjoyed dog sitting them since last Thursday while their true owners, my cousin Kristi and her family, are vacationing at the beach.

These little ladies are full of energy. So much so I feel guilty leaving them at home confined to our kitchen with the help of baby gates (had to borrow those too) while we're at work all day. (I told Robert today I was worried they were losing brain cells from lack of stimulation. He said I was crazy and that they were dogs.) But they have each other to horse around with and are super excited - and yappy - when we get home.

As you can tell, they like to hang around in case we drop food, but it's been only dog food for these gals all week.

And they like to cuddle and give you kisses.

They also love to fight with you in a tug of war over their toy horse and duck. They actually know those words. If Robert yells "Duck" they go crazy trying to find that toy and get all worked up and excited.


How crazy, you make ask? Check out this video:



Seriously, these dogs have been tons of fun to keep. We've found ourselves making up all sorts of nicknames for them: belles, trixalicious, trixter...you get the idea. I've also felt like a true Homewoodian with dogs to walk down the street, though I think we went a little too far for those little legs Monday night because Trixie was panting good and steady for about 15 minutes after we got back.

This experience has been quite helpful as we consider future pet ownership. My cousin actually pitched this as a chance to do a test run as a dog owner. And it's certainly been more true to life than just keep them for a day. We've experienced both the joyous (cuddling with cute puppies) and the not so joyous (waking up to yapping at 6 a.m.) aspects of dog ownership.

So is dog ownership in our future? Probably, but not until one of us is at home to actually spend time with the little guy. I think I would just feel too guilty leaving him by himself all day five days a week. My gut tells me we probably won't get a dog until our kids beg for one, and that's years away.

Speaking of kids. This whole experience has gotten me thinking we need a trial run for kids too. Anyone want to offer their children for our experiment?

Mid Summer Update

I thought it would be fun to give a summer update on the Adams, though this blog title isn't exactly accurate considering summer is almost over and I start back school in just a few weeks. (Boo!) Accuracy aside, here's a small snap shot at what's been going down at 211 Sterrett Avenue during May, June, and July.

iphones!

Yes, we got new iphones, and our lives will never be the same. Seriously. I'm not joking. Our two-year contract with Verizon ended right around the time the new iphone was released, so we couldn't have asked for a better time to make the switch. I almost got a blackberry instead and I'm so so glad I didn't. The iphone gives me all the access to email I need plus tons of other cool things. Some of my favorite apps (and I've barely even scratched the surface of app downloading): Craigsreader (for Craigslist), Pandora (great for jogging), AroundMe (yellow pages based on your location), Shazam (tells you the name of the song playing), Sherman Williams ColorSnap (gives you the Sherman Williams paint color to match any color you take a pic of), and DirectTV (to set our DVR remotely). There are some other good ones that track our gas milage, grocery shopping, etc., which I haven't even really delved into yet.

So what does having an iphone mean?

• 1) I'm the coolest I've ever been in my life. Seriously, I've never been on the front end of a fad. I've never owned an ipod, GPS system, etc., and we got these the day they were released. This is all thanks to Robert. I take zero credit.
• 2) These are technically our graduation present to ourselves, so if I don't finish grad school in December Robert will probably take mine away. Talk about motivation.
• 3) We're definitely more connected globally but slightly less socially. Sometimes we'll have the TV on but both be playing with our iphones. Or if one of us is driving the other (most times me) will be playing on the iphone instead of conversing. Did I mention they're just a little addicting? :)

Brewing

Robert and my brother Kyle are becoming quite the home brewers with the help of our friend David, the brew master extraoridaire. This summer they've started two different brews: one is a Blue Moon-ish ale that's almost ready and the second batch is similar to a New Castle. They plan to bottle the second batch this Thursday. Everyone is anxious to see how they turn out. Home brewing certainly requires patience since it takes anywhere from four to six weeks or longer to be ready to drink. We're gathering quite the collection of home brew paraphenelia and Robert's beer fridge is now officially being used as a beer fridge.

Rece Davis

If any of you get the Alabama Alumni Magazine, be on the look out for an article on ESPN anchor Rece Davis in the fall issue authored by yours truly. I was able to go back and do this freelance piece for my old employer. It really was a blast to get back into some feature writing like I did in college, but I discovered I was a little rusty and quite out of practice. Somehow I managed to nearly completely forget AP Style, and at one point in my life I practically had it memorized. I blame my dementia on using Chicago style at work and APA for grad school. Too much for one brain. I'm curious to see how the article turns out with the layout and photos. Rece was a great interview. Very fun guy who gives back tremendously to his alma mater.

Robert's classes
Robert will GRADUATE this Thursday - as in finished, done, for good. He's been so faithful to plug away at school this summer, taking classes in May, June, and July,. That roughly translates to going to school four or more nights a week for about 12 straight weeks. It's been crazy busy for him but he is almost there. I'm so proud of him. MBA - check!

My GRP
So, in other school news, I was supposed to finish my graduate research paper this summer. I had a slight setback getting IRB (Institutional Review Board) approval for my research, but it is underway now and on schedule to finish this fall. Let's just hope more people respond to my survey so I have the qualitative data I need to do the full program evaluation. What have I learned from all this? 1) It pays to start early because you never know when you might hit a snag. 2) Deleting that survey in your inbox could drastically affect some poor researcher's life (in this case, mine). So be kind and submit your opinions!

Tomato Plants

The status report here is basically not good. I've only gotten about three tomatoes off my two plants all summer, and this tiny fellow may be the best of the lot. The main issue is me. Farmer Adams is not the best at remembering to water. Oh well, there's always next year.

House Projects
More posts about this to come, but let's just say the summer off of school has given me lots of time to pursue some little projects around the house. Be on the look out for a post about my latest DIY ventures and craigslist finds.

The Bachelorette

Hands down my absolute favorite show of the summer. I'm completely addicted. I'm hoping Reid comes back for the finale night, but I'm also an Ed fan (who most viewers I've talked to despise) and would be fine with Julian picking him. At least Wes is gone and was exposed for the weasle he is!

Pleasure Reading

This summer I've gotten back into pleasure reading for the first time in years. It's been so nice to actually enjoy a book just for the fun of it. I think it's literally been the most non-academic textbook reading I've done since I started college, which was...ahmm...seven years ago. (Yikes, I'm old!) It all started with the Twilight series and then I finished Angels and Demons, which was a fabulous book. Last week I finished, The Friday Night Kniting Club, which I bought on a whim at a yard sale knowing nothing about it except the jacket cover claim to be a "Steele Magnolias set in Manhattan." It actually was really good with a surprising tragic ending which left me with uncontrolable tears streaming down my face sitting between two strangers on the plane ride back from Dever. Slightly awkward, but a great book. Next on the list: The Divinci Code and that new book by Dan Brown, The Help, and tons of others recommended by my friend and soon to be famous author Anne. Check out her blog (link at right) for great book recommendations and reviews.

Beach Trip...

We're beach bound next Saturday for a week in Destin with my family. While we're down there we'll be celebrating Robert's 27th birthday and graduation. We had this tiny two-week window between when Robert finished school and before Ryan, David, and I started back which was the only time we could schedule a family vacation, so when mom found a place in Destin available August 1 -9 we booked it right away. We're definitely counting down the days.

Denver!

For months now I've been trying to schedule a trip to Denver to visit one of my best friends from college (who was also my roommate for two years and maid of honor) who recently moved there from Colorado Springs. I was so excited when it worked out for me to plan my "Julia trip" over a long weekend in July. So I took off a couple days of work and hopped a plane to Denver for a much awaited girls weekend.


Friday night we went out with Julia's sweet roommate Amy and met up with some of her other friends. It was so neat to finally meet all the people I had been hearing about and put faces to names. Julia has some super fun peeps and it was great to take in the Downtown Denver scene with them.


Saturday morning we slept in and then headed to the Cherry Creek Farmer's Market close to where Julia and Amy live in a cute little duplex they are renting in the College Park suburb. The farmer's market differed primarily from Pepper Place or a farmer's market in the South mainly because they had less produce vendors and more food vendors. There was actually a pretty significant southwestern flair, with lots of fish tacos and other mexi-type foods for sale.

After a walk in Wash Park, we headed back to get ready for the "Sushi Fusion" supper club Julia and Amy hosted for their friends. They've been doing a weekly supper club and this one was Asian-inspired. Amy has this really fun eclectic food style and taught us all how to roll our own sushi. We had a blast experimenting, and it was great to meet even more of Julia's friends I'd heard so much about, including her old roommates from the Springs who drove up for the night.







We had a little too much fun pan-frying the spring rolls. This was my first attempt at rolling my own sushi. As you can see from my plate, the two rolls on the left side turned out great - the right side, not so much. But it was really yummy.


And, yes, that's Hunter, one of Julia's friends, trying to unclog the kitchen sink which backed up the night of the party. It was quite the ordeal, and every male in the house had to take a stab at fixing it. Three days later (after I was back in Bham) after we took every dish from the party to the sink downstairs, the girls got their sink back to working order thanks to Rotor Rooter after a failed attempt by the landlord. Tree roots had been growing in the pipes! Crazy!

Sunday morning after church we ate at this fun place called the Coral Room in the hippie/indie side of town (think it was called Highlands). We had a great brunch. Their omelet was amazing.


And Sunday afternoon we drove out to Red Rocks for a hike. (My words to Julia when she was explaining where we were headed on the way out: "Red Rocks? You mean like Dave Matthews Live at Red Rocks? I know that place!") So after taking some pics around the amphitheatre (which also hosts these fun summer movie nights) we took a little hike, which seemed like a very Colorado thing to do so I had requested it be added to the weekend agenda.







The hike was nothing too intense, just a fun hour-long hike that gave us lots of time to catch up. Luckily it only started sprinkling right toward the end so we were able to make it back to the car without getting too wet. It never really rained much, but Julia said they often get these random showers in the afternoon.

I had Julia take this shot just to prove I hiked. I'm forcing a smile because some crazy dessert plant bit me while I was trying to get off road to the sign and actually drew blood. At that point I was done with hiking....

...so, we headed to get ice cream at this fun place called Bonnie Bray in a part of town by the same name. Amy and Chris met up with us again and asked me 1) if I could live in Denver (I said I could see myself living there for a season of life - maybe a couple of years - but not permanently) and 2) what's the biggest difference between Denver and Alabama/the South (I said the way people dress. Everyone dresses differently out there with their own style. Let's just say there's not a lot of khaki/polo shirt wearing frat boy twins all over the place.

Coloradans are also way more active, probably even addicted to outdoor pursuits like we are addicted to working, serving on boards, volunteering, scheduling every spare minute of our time, etc. Let's just say if you don't own at least one bike, ski and snow gear, a kayak, and hike 14-ers every other weekend in the summer you wouldn't exactly fit in. It's also a very laid back culture even though life is at a faster pace. In the South, life definitely goes by at a slower place but is not as laid back with our little (and sometimes unspoken) traditions and rules (no white after labor day), etc.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Southern traditions. I'm all about big weddings, and smocked dresses, and black-eyed peas on New Year's. But sometimes we do get a little caught up with all those standards and comparing ourselves and others to them. All that said, when Julia visited back in April one thing she said she loved about Faith and missed about the South in general was all the cute kids dressed in their smocked and seer sucker Sunday finest. Apparently children in Colorado wear Patagonia jackets. I guess that means they do dress alike.

That's just my two cents after Jules and I chatted about the whole differences thing, but what do we know???

(Ok, forgive yet another food picture. Three quarters of my Denver photos involve food of some sort but, hey, it was vacation!) Sunday night we partook in a Black family (Julia's family) tradition - PCA! Every Sunday growing up Julia's family had PCA (popcorn, cheese, and apples) for dinner and watched a movie together, I think primarily because it was a lighter meal to follow the big Sunday lunch her mom always fixed. We kept the tradition up some in college as roomies and resurrected it again on my Denver trip, adding some crackers and summer sausage to the mix.

Monday morning before Jules dropped me off at the airport we ate at this great breakfast place downtown called Snooze. The French Crunch (french toast with fresh strawberries and whipped cream) was amazing. It was nice to get one last chance to chat before we had to say our goodbyes. My flight back was multi-faceted and took the better part of the day (Robert apologetically suggested I hire a new travel agent), but I found even sitting in the airport reading my book was a vacation of sorts - just a relaxing time away from the grind of work, school, and life, and I even finished my book! (Which I'll blog about later.) By 8 p.m. I was back in Bham and thrilled to see my hubby.

I am so thankful when I think about the wonderful girlfriends the Lord brought into my life during college. Though we are spread out all over the country now (Denver, Charlotte, Atlanta, Jacksonville, Decatur, other random towns throughout Alabama, and thankfully some here in the Ham), we are trying to be good about staying involved in each other's lives through regular phone calls, emails, and text messages and by scheduling yearly reunion trips, which is especially important now that most of us are married and we don't have any more weddings to get us all together. We figure if we establish the annual reunion trip tradition early in life we'll be more likely to stick to it when life gets even busier for all of us when kids come along. So for all you special ladies out there (and you know who you are) thanks for loving and encouraging me and being so faithful to live out the gospel in your lives. You're the best friends anyone could ask for. And thanks, Jules, for a lovely time in Denver!