Fall, Football, & Lots of Zucchini

I finally found the battery charger for the camera and took some pictures of my fall decorations. I didn't get too out of control, but below is a picture of my mantel, table, and front step. There is already a chill in the air, and at night it has been getting down into the 30's, so in Flagstaff it is really starting to feel like fall. I noticed today a lot of the leaves were starting to change color.







This weekend Jason and I went to dinner Friday night at a new Greek restaurant in town called Taverna. The food was pretty good, and they dance and light food on fire, so that was different. On Saturday I watched my friend Heather's two kids for a couple of hours in the morning. In the afternoon we listened to the Clemson game on ESPN Radio (all we could get!) and then went to watch NAU play University of Montana. Both my football teams lost that day, but at least Tim's soccer team won at Presbyterian College; USC Upstate was the only one who came through for us that day! Luckily, I have worked it out to be able to go visit S.C. Oct. 30-Nov. 1 to watch Tim play at USC and catch a Clemson football game. I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone.

On Sunday Jason went biking with his friend David, ended up with a flat tire, and had to take his bike into the shop. We had about 7 zucchini from a co-worker of mine whose vegetable garden is still producing like crazy, so we did a lot of cooking on Sunday also. Here is a picture of the zucchini pile, and this wasn't even all of it!


We made two loaves of pineapple zucchini bread (sounds weird, but is surprisingly delicious) and a zucchini au gratin for dinner. Here is a picture of the zucchini bread.


Nothing out of the ordinary is planned for this week, but next weekend we're going to a Fall Harvest Festival in town to drink beer and pick pumpkins. The plan is to turn them into jack-o-lanterns for our front step.

Hangin' in Flag

Had a relatively quiet week in Flagstaff. Friday night we met up with some co-workers at a wine bar in town, then had dinner. Saturday we watched Clemson beat Boston College at the house of a friend who also happens to be a Clemson alum, and owns one of the sweetest rides in town (see picture). On Sunday Helen decorated the house for the coming Fall season, and Jason went mountain biking with a friend from work (no wipeouts this time). We're both looking forward to a great work week, and possibly our first NAU football game next weekend.

Birthdays Galore!

This post is a little later than usual; Jason and I have been working like dogs! Jason was in Chicago last Thursday - Sunday. He was up there for a meeting on Friday, but then stuck around for two more days to spend some time with his brother, Kurt. He is away again tonight, in Sedona, for a product specialist meeting. He'll be home again tomorrow.

Funny story though...he left at about 7:00 this morning while I was getting ready for work; I usually leave at about 7:40. At around 7:30 I started looking for my keys, which I discovered were no where to be found. Then I remembered taking them into Jason's car the night before, which was half way to Sedona! Turns out our valet key was also attached so Jason's key chain, so all three keys to the Subaru were with Jason. Luckily, a friend of mine could pick me up and take me to work, and I have another ride tomorrow morning. I know this doesn't surprise any of you that I left my keys in his car:)

At work, we started advising this week for selecting spring classes; I have about 6 to 7 appointments a day, and all my other time is eaten up with a new initiative I've been working on...pretty hectic! Before the term is over, I will have met about 300 students to select spring courses...12 down, 288 to go!

Friday, while Jason was in Chicago, I helped my friend Heather get ready for her daughter's birthday party by making lots of origami butterflies...here is a picture of a few.

On Saturday, my friend Kristen came over for some coffee and a chat, and then Heather's daughter Jane's birthday party was at 11:00. Here is a picture of me and the little birthday girl...


Later that night I went to a grown-up beer tasting themed birthday party for a co-worker. Here is a picture we took of a few co-workers and I...


Jason was home on Sunday, and we watched NFL (Go Pack!) and the season final episodes of our HBO shows. Jason will be home tomorrow night, and is going to be in Flagstaff (as of now) until the end of October. We don't have too many crazy plans over the next couple of weeks. Clemson plays Boston College on Saturday, and I plan to begin my fall / Halloween decorating this weekend...can't wait!

XOXO

Labor Day Road Trip

This year, to celebrate our labor, Jason and I took a road trip to Utah. We are trying to visit as many states in the Western US as we can, and the scenery is Utah is rumored to be some of the best.
We packed up the Subi Saturday morning and drove to Mt.Zion National Park. It is in southern Utah, and took about 4.5 hours. Our drive was an interesting one, through the Navajo Reservation for about 2 hours, over Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell, and through various Arizona / Utah rocky deserts, along what is called the Grand Staircase. The Grand Staircase follows the Grand Canyon at the bottom, Mt. Zion in the middle, and Bryce Canyon at the top. We've now visited all three points! Saturday afternoon we took about a 3 mile hike along the Lower, Middle, and Upper Emerald Pools -- really pretty hike. After we checked into our hotel in Springdale, UT called the Pioneer Lodge(complete with a covered wagon on the sign), we ate at a surprisingly good restaurant called Whiptail Grill (Whiptail is a type of lizard we learned) and walked around the small town. I even got a hand-crafted mug from a local artists' studio for my morning cups of tea! Here is a slideshow of Mt. Zion...



On Sunday we headed to Bryce Canyon, about a 1 hour drive further North into Utah (pretty much in the middle of nowhere, Utah!). We were totally blown away by Bryce Canyon, and think you guys will be too by the pictures. I absolutely recommend this to anyone who happens to find themselves in Utah! We were pleasantly surprised, and glad we added the second stop to our trip. We took about a 3 mile hike down deep into the canyon along a trail called Navajo loop, walked along the floor of the canyon along Queen's Garden trail, and SLOWLY back up the climb along Sunrise trail. Other than thinking I may die at a couple points back up out of the canyon, it was a really unique canyon with a lot of interesting scenery. That night we stayed in Tropic, Utah, a town that was LITERALLY one street, no stop lights, in a cozy cabin. We ate at one of two restaurants in town, Clark's, and had a good ol' country meal complete with barbeque (Jason has ribs, I had the chicken) and blueberry pie...yummm. It was a really relaxing night just drinking wine outside our cabin, watching the stars, which looked almost as good as they do in Flagstaff:)

Monday we slowly got back on the road, made a pit-stop at Red Canyon, and Jason worked on perfecting his skills with the manual transmission (we made it home in one piece!) Here is Bryce Canyon...


J leaves Thursday for Chicago, and Clemson has their first nationally televised game of the season vs. Georgia Tech, so you know what I'll be doing! I believe it starts at 4:00 our time, so I'm DVRing the game to watch it when I get home from work...no one is allowed to send me updates until after 5:30 my time!!

Have a great week and GO TIGERS!!
XOXO

Mom and Dad Visit AZ

Mom and dad Bailey flew into Flagstaff last Thursday night, and Jason and I cooked our weary travelers a dinner of pork tenderloin and southwestern black bean salad (I put the recipe below). We went to bed early, and on Friday mom and dad came to see my new office and meet some co-workers, and we walked downtown to eat at a Mexican restaurant called Cafe Ole. The food isn't the best Mexican in town, but the back porch is incredible. I headed back to work for the afternoon, and mom and dad did some shopping in downtown Flagstaff.

That night we took mom and dad to Cuvee 928, a great wine bar with outdoor seating in Heritage Square in the center of downtown. The wine was great, but unfortunately there was an AWFUL band playing before the weekly "movie on the square". We walked to Brix, my favorite Flagstaff restaurant, for a delicious dinner.

Saturday we drove down to Sedona, AZ through the Hwy. 89 "switchbacks" to show off the amazing views of the red rocks. There we did a wine tasting at Wild West Wines, ate a great lunch at Renes, and did some shopping in a place called Tlaquepaque, a spanish inspired shopping center with a lot of tiling, fountains, art work, and gardens.




Complete with a trip to the ice cream store, we headed back up to Flagstaff, and had another home cooked meal, and an early birthday cake and gifts for Jason.

Sunday Jason got on an early flight to visit Jackson Hole, WY for a small vascular surgeon conference. Check out the 5 star Four Seasons hotel where he is staying...real tough life!
I took mom and dad for a breakfast at Macy's "European Coffeehouse" and in the afternoon my friends Heather and Greg and their two kids Max and Jane came over for a little cookout. Here's a great picture of Max and Jane. I was still finding misplaced knick knacks and pieces of chewed up carrot all over the house on Monday -- am I sure I want kids?? haha.

On Monday I had to work, so mom and dad went to the Grand Canyon (I'm a little "Grand Canyoned out") and we went to a nice dinner at night at Pasto, an Italian restaurant downtown.
I was up early this morning to see them off to Phoenix, and they are heading to San Francisco. I was sad to see them go, but so happy to have them here for awhile, show them our town, and share moments together at home with glasses of great wine!

Jason comes home tomorrow night and we're going on a road trip through a couple National Parks in Utah for the Labor Day Weekend...we'll be sure to post lots of pictures when we return!

Southwestern Black Bean Salad
1 can of black beans, rinsed
2 ears of corn, grilled, kernels removed from ear
1 red pepper, chopped
2 tomatoes, seeds removed, chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped
Handful of cilantro, chopped well

Dressing:
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
juice of 1/2 lime
1/4 cup olive oil or canola oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste

Whisk dressing together and pour over ingredients in a large bowl