Football and Modern Dance

Friday, Chuckie and I got to see Louisville play football in person for the first time in almost 2 years.  Lucky for us, they had a road game at UConn in East Hartford, Connecticut, just a little less than 2 hours from Boston! Our friends Ana and Jose came with us and fully committed to being Louisville fans for a night. The game itself wasn't the most exciting game ever and it was super cold outside but that didn't stop us from having a blast.

After dinner at a place called "Margaritas," we drove to the stadium and found parking in a field a million miles from the stadium. Not really, but it felt like it.  I couldn't get over the fact that everyone, even pass holders/season ticket holders, park in a field! It was so different from Papa John's Stadium, but in a good way.  UConn's football team may be 0-8 but their fans still tailgate as if they're 8-0. We didn't have much to tailgate with except a backpack full of beer and a little speaker for music, but really, what else do you need?

We sat in the Louisville section and met a lot of Boston residents who are UofL alums. They get together at a local restaurant for most of the football and basketball games, so I have a feeling we'll meet up with them in Boston in the future.

Ana and I took a bathroom break at one point in the night and on our way back to our seats, I spotted Mike Marra and we asked him for a picture. Although when I first saw him I think I said "Hey! You played basketball! But I can't remember your name!" I'm sure he really appreciated that. His friend told me, "I'll give you a hint- it starts with a Mike" and as soon as he said that I yelled "Mike Marra!!!!!!" So he knew I was legit.

Also please notice Ana throwing up the L. She's a really good and committed fake Cards fan and this is why I love her.

We thought the team would come over to their fans who stuck it out to the end (it was pretty cold, y'all) but only 3 players came over! And now Damian Copeland and Hakeem Smith are our favorites because they shook every fans' hand and said "Thank you for coming. Thank you for supporting us. Thank you for being here."

So that was Friday. In two weeks, we're heading to Connecticut once again, this time to see the basketball team play in a little tournament!

Saturday we switched gears and instead of Louisville clothing and football, we got dressed up and went to a dance show. Sami's BFF Ines, who you've seen on the blog HERE before,  attends the Boston Conservatory for dance and she's a-maz-ing (both at dancing and just at being a lovely, wonderful person). So Chuck and I went to see her dance in the fall showcase at the Conservatory. It was so fun to see Ines on stage and we got to meet her entire family which was fun too!

Sunday we relaxed from our busy weekend and I got myself hooked on another show on Netflix, Mad Men. Chuckie's not watching this one with me because he actually has to do some work sometimes and isn't allowing another show to distract him like Breaking Bad did. So I watch a few episodes of Mad Men and then I update him on the crazy antics of Don Draper. It was a good weekend.

This Thursday, Chuck and I are headed to Chattanooga, Tennessee so he can visit an Amazon fulfillment center (I'll explain more after the trip) and we can spend the weekend with one of our favorite friends of all time, Branden!

Pig Roast

This weekend we went to our first ever Pig Roast.

One of Chuck's LGO classmates, Andrew, invited all of the LGOs and their families up to his parent's house in New Hampshire for a day of outdoor fun. His parents live in Amherst, NH and their house is on a dead end road that looks like this.

It's gorgeous.

Andrew and some of the other LGOs went up on Friday night and started cooking the pig around 2 in the morning. They stayed up all night, turning the pig every 15-20 minutes. By the time we got there around noon, the pig was close to being done.

I was a little disturbed by seeing a full pig on a stick, and was convinced he was making eye contact with me no matter where I stood.

Us and the pig. (I am posting a far away picture of the pig so I don't completely offend any vegetarians who might read this. The close-ups are pretty sick.)

People just sitting around watching the pig cook.

 While we waited to eat, some of us took a field trip across the street to a horse farm and fed the horses some apples.

Red barn, yellow leaves, blue sky, pretty horse... Is this real life?

New Hampshire is beautiful.

Asher, Jessica and Robbie's son, feeding the horses.

This is Finnegan. He liked the smell of my deodorant. I wanted to keep him.

When we got back to the pig roast, the pig had already been taken down and was in the process of being cut. I'm kind of glad I missed the process of them taking him down.

Finally it was time to eat. I'd be willing to say that the meat from this pig was the best pork I have ever eaten in my entire life.

After we ate, some people napped, played croquet, played football, played bocce ball, took horse carriage rides, and sat on the porch and talked. It was pretty great.

The back yard where the football game took place.

 Once it got dark, we went down to the HUGE bonfire and sat around it. It was an awesome ending to an awesome day.

Also this weekend: we hosted a small game night which was a lot of fun, but once again reminded us that Boys vs Girls Taboo is never a good idea.

On Friday, Chuck and I went to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory with his Sloan Core Team to celebrate the end of midterm week. Afterwards, we went to one of his team member's apartment and played a karaoke game and a trivia game on PS3.

Sunday, Chuck and I had a date which I thought was very exciting because usually Sundays are heavy homework/study days for him. We went to the California Pizza Kitchen for lunch and then saw Argo at the the movie theater. If you haven't seen this movie yet, you should. We gave it an A+. It's based on a true story. 'Nuff said.

Looking forward to a big Louisville football game and a Halloween party coming up this weekend!

Fall- the Best Season of All

I love Fall more than any other season. I always have. I associate Fall with sweatshirts and boots, colorful leaves, chili and cider, football and marching band, fire pits and hayrides, season premieres of all my favorite shows, and best of all- the anticipation of the holiday season that is quickly approaching. 

This year, we get to experience our first New England Fall. From what we hear, it's a great time to live in Boston. We got a taste of it when we came to visit for Ambassador Day last year and the year before. But now we are getting to experience it.

Because I love Fall so much and because we are in the perfect place to enjoy it, we are trying to live it up best we can. I think we've done a good job so far! Check it out.

We went to a Harvard football game. The stadium was less than half full and it felt more like a high school football atmosphere to us than college, but it was a pretty day and it was entertaining to say the least.

No idea who won. We left before it was over to go order our iPhone 5s.

If on a Sunday afternoon, Chuck suddenly stands up and says "I need a break from homework. Let's walk to Starbucks and get a Pumpkin Spice Latte," who am I to tell him no? (Please note: football on the TV in the background.)

We've had perfect boot weather lately.

Chuck has joined the LGO flag football team. They had their first game last week and it ended in a tie. I thought only soccer could end in a tie (one of the many reasons I hate soccer) but apparently not. Oh well. The LGO team had better cheerleaders at least.

We went apple picking. We went with some other LGOs and SOs on a Sunday morning up to a place called Russell Orchards. We ate cider donuts, picked apples, and broke almost all of the orchard rules (including "no throwing apples" and "no shaking trees.")

 The rules didn't say anything about not sampling the apples...

 

Our goodies from the Orchard:

 Pumpkin butter, Red Raspberry Jam, Apple butter, and 10 lbs of apples. Because, you know, two people really need 10 lbs of apples.

I don't know if you can get more Fall than football games and apple picking but we plan to try. On the horizon we have a camping trip, a pig roast, and someone brought up a possible pumpkin carving block party sometime in the near future. You know I'm all over that.

I don't mean to brag but one time I carved a Goldendoodle howling at the moon into a pumpkin. Not sure how I will top that this year but, I'll try my best.