Friday Night Concert

Tonight (Friday) we went to a 4-hour long praise and worship program that Er!c and a few other musicians were participating in.

The program (organized by Grace In Action) was supposed to start at 6:00 so we all arrived at 5:00 to set up and do a quick sound check before people started arriving. By 6:15 only a handful of people were filling seats, so we decided to go ahead and start the program anyway. The band played for about 15 minutes followed by several lengthy testimonials and another 45 minutes of music from the regular church band/worship group. Then came the offering and two sermons from the two visiting guest pastors...

Keep in mind that we went to this event straight from work and hadn't eaten supper yet.

After the sermons were over our band took the stage once again and did one more musical number with the same small handful of guests in the audience (the program participants actually outnumbered the audience members).

We rolled back into our driveway right at 10:00, tired and very hungry.

Kitchen Project (Continued)

Some of you may have heard that we've been working on remodeling our kitchen. No, it is not quite finished just yet, but hopefully it will be finished sometime this next week! Keep watching for photos of the finished project. But until then here are some pictures of our "new" updated cabinets.

Before


After

Side-by-Side

GA - TN Border Battle

You may have heard of Georgia's recent water woes during this year's big drought? Well, now Georgia lawmakers are challenging Tennessee to have their 200-year-old shared border moved to the north approximately 1 mile so that Georgia can have access to the Tennessee River and it's wealth of reliable water (which is very tantalizingly close)!

• Here's the first story I read from the Chattanooga Times Free Press (TN)
• And also from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA)

TIMELINE (1777 - 2008)

Update 2/23/08 - The Governors Meet
Update 2/26/08 - TN Draws Line on Border Dispute
Update 2/27/08 - TN Sends Goodwill Water to GA

I ♥ You Christmas Party

Saturday night we participated in the second annual "I ♥ You Christmas" celebration. Yes, I realize that this is mid-February. Let me explain:

I ♥ You Christmas (pronounced "I love you Christmas") was created back in 2007 when a group of single student missionaries in Norway who couldn't spend their Christmas together decided to boycott the traditional Valentines Day celebrations and create their own hybrid holiday - I ♥ You Christmas.

This year, Todd and Eva were crowned the king and queen of I ♥ You Christmas and we all got to help create the new traditions for I ♥ You Christmas. We exchanged gifts, enjoyed good food, made themed cookies, created new icons/symbols for I ♥ You Christmas, etc... It was all somewhat silly of course, but lots of fun.

Happy Valentines Thai

To celebrate Valentines, we went to a new Thai restaurant, Royal Thai Dining, about 10 minutes away (incidentally it's right next door to Mr. Greek). This time however our dining experience was exceptionally enjoyable! We STRONGLY recommend checking this one out!

From the moment we walked in the door we were impressed with this small and intimate dining experience. It is not necessarily a "suit & tie" type of restaurant, but I wouldn't want to wear anything less than "casual/dressy" (however they wouldn't kick you out if you came in jeans & t-shirt).

The service was a little slow (but it was also Valentines evening and the place was continuously packed), but the staff were very friendly and welcoming. The food was very delicious and the prices were what you'd expect from any typical "nice" sit-down restaurant.

We definitely would give Royal Thai 5 stars!*

Here's a map

*Assuming that 5 stars is a very very good rating! :)

Greenlife Grocery

This weekend we decided to go check out Greenlife Grocery in downtown Chattanooga and were VERY impressed with the store! It definitely gets our "you've gotta check it out" stamp of approval!

Although their prices are significantly higher than your typical grocery store, they almost exclusively offer only organic or healthy or imported or environmentally-friendly products that you won't find anywhere else! And they also have a huge selection of vegetarian foods too. Here's what they say:

"Greenlife Grocery is a full service natural foods store dedicated to bringing you and your family the freshest and healthiest foods and products available. No artificial flavors, colors, preservatives, or hydrogenated oils. We are committed to supporting local foods and local economy. We believe a healthy environment starts with a healthy community. We strive to support organic local produce, local meats, local cheeses, local breads, local supplements & body care, and other local goods whenever possible. We pride ourselves in offering as many organic options to our customers as are available. We believe that supporting organic is one of the best ways to make positive changes in people's health and the environments of local communities, and the earth itself."

www.greenlifegrocery.com
map

Booker T. Bike Ride

Sabbath afternoon was sunny and "warm" so we decided to go for a bike ride at Booker T. Washington State Park. It was a bit more challenging than our first ride, with a narrower trail, more twists and turns, and more hill climbs. Total ride was about 6 miles -- Tiring but fun. . :)

Warning, Avoid Mr. Greek

Yesterday we decided to try out Mr. Greek, a new restaurant, along with some friends. Our bad experience began the moment we walked in the door. We stood around for about 1 or 2 minutes waiting for someone to come great & seat us... finally some southern woman popped her head out of the back and told us to go ahead and sit down. So we found a table and started looking through the menu at the seemingly overpriced entrees (for the quality of the place). A few more minutes of waiting with no sign of service, and we decided to do what none of us had ever done before; walk out!

We decided instead to go to The Acropolis, and that made all the difference! Mmm Mmm Good!

Taco Roc

Last night we finally tried out this little family-owned restaurant not too far from our house and right next door to our other favorite neighborhood restaurant, The Curry Pot. Taco Roc is definitely worth going back to again. It's a very casual dining experience with multi-colored tables and whiteboards on the wall on which you can write comments about your own dining experience.

Their menu offers a nice variety of authentic Mexican food (everything is homemade including the tortillas). They even cater to vegetarians. Along with the yummy food they also have several different homemade drinks (we had the kiwi punch -- complete with seeds!). The prices were very reasonable and as first time visitors we received 2 coupons for free tacos next time we come!

www.tacoroc.com
map

It's Super Chooseday!

Be Smart. Vote.


If you haven't done it already, go out and vote today for your favorite presidential candidate (or ours). :)

Our Little Super Bowl Party

Sunday evening we went over to Todd's to watch the Super Bowl, and as is our usual tradition, root for the underdog team (which, by the way, was the winning team!!!). They made the winning touchdown with only 35 seconds to spare, making it one of the biggest upsets in football history! Go Giants!

To make things a bit more interesting we also decided to play a "drinking game" (non-alcoholic of course) and drink shots of Ginger Beer (a very hot and spicy ginger flavored soft drink) at every first down, touchdown, or field goal with the added agreement that we'd each chug an Iced Tea at the 2 minute warning, or if one of the teams successfully executed a 2-point conversion, whichever came first.

Needless to say, we drank WAY too much finishing off 8 bottles and 3 cans of soda... I'm definitely going to only drink water this next week and give my poor pancreas a break... :)