Christmas time is here

I am very aware we haven't blogged in a while....so, to update:

We have Christmas lights up on the house and our tree is decked out with presents underneath. (Clark is currently wrapping some of my presents as we speak.) I am done shopping for him and I am excited for him to open them!

I have been very exhausted with working my 2 jobs. I had four days in a row of working 10+ hours, not very fun. Definitely considering dropping of of those jobs. We'll see.

Going to Kentucky this Christmas and I am excited! Clark and I get to start our own traditions and create our own family Christmas memories. Yay!

Its Pumpkin Time!

So another week has gone by in the Herrington household. The highlight of our weekend has been carving our pumpkins. Amy wanted scary but cute and I wanted just plain scary. See if you can guess who did which one.

This week went fairly well. Amy is still on the hunt for a fulltime job but is enjoying (well by enjoy I mean its not driving her mad yet) teaching and working at the salon. I worked lots of extra hours so I will be taking Monday off (Amy is a little jealous). I wound up going to Talledaga on Saturday for the NASCAR Truck series race with a friend from work. We found free tickets last week at work so I figured I should experience what rednecks do for a good time. We even managed to scrap up some scanners to listen to the drivers and crews talk. It was fun but I could do without all the beer, smoking, and pimps sitting behind us.

Oh, and on another note we are going to Boston on MLK weekend thanks to Southwest Airlines Winter Sale! We actually going with Claire and John so it should make for a good time and plenty of clam chowder.

My certificate should say : "Secondary Babysitter"

I read these and I feel like someone read my mind and wrote down all my views on teaching. I would love to get on my soapbox and go on and on, but I'll spare everyone.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/411302/why_teaching_public_school_sucks.html?cat=4

http://angryjedi.wordpress.com/2010/01/20/one-a-day-day-3-why-teaching-sucks/

Here are the promised pictures:

The Trail ride.

St Elmo/Iron City

Mary Murphy Mine

Alpine Tunnel

Various Passes and Roads on the way back to BV.

Looking back as we leave BV.




Denver the day we leave to head home.

Colorado (continued!)

Tuesday, Sept. 6 "Horse Day"

So to give a pre-cursor: I (Amy) LOVE horses. Well, actually, I love animals. Dogs, horses, cows, donkeys, octopodi, butterflies...you name it i love it! (except several bug species; even though Clark tells me bugs are not animals). Anyways I was so excited to finally ride a horse I could barely contain myself. We went to the ranch and when we got there we were assigned our horses- I got "Tequila" and Clark got "Amigo". We went outside to wait on everyone else to get there and there were 2 cats playing- super cute. I named one George. A few minutes went by and the 2 cats turned into 10! They were everywhere. I wanted to grab them and cuddle, but I'm allergic, so I refrained myself. (Maybe its better if Clark writes these blogs because I add way too much superfluous information)

So we got our horseys and the ranch hand made a joke that Tequila had a long night of partying. We hopped on and were off. I could tell my horse was a cranky character right off the bat. They said when she tries to eat pull her head up, but when Tequila wanted to eat there was nothing I could do to stop her. Clark's Amigo was tame and calm and easy-going. Tequila on 3 occasions nipped at other horses. She was a flat out jerk. She was all up in the horses grill in front of me. I was nervous most of the time, but I tried really hard to make her like me so I pet her neck half the time.

When we got off the horses Clark and I couldnt walk!! We were SO stiff from climbing the mountain from the day before.

Wednesday, Sept. 7 "Jeep Day"

Ate lunch in Jeep (SO COLD)

Clark's Take: We rented a jeep to go off roading. Amy was quite excited to drive...turns out it was a stick shift. Amy and stick shifts do go well together with anything above a 1% grade. The guy at the rental company helped us plan our day so we packed our lunch and took off on a slightly cloudy day. Our first stop was Iron City on the road to St Elmo. There was much left except a cemetery and an old power house for the mines. St Elmo was a little more exciting with a few old buildings left. The best part (according to Amy) was the squirrels. There was a small counter where you could buy sunflower seeds and then sit on a bench. The squirrels and chipmunks then proceeded to crawl all over you to eat. These were the fattest ones I have EVER seen. Needless to say we spent a while letting them crawl over us. After that we headed up the mountains to Mary Murphy Mine. This was our first taste of some pretty rough roads. It took us quite a while to get up there but there were several building intact. It looked like some company was also starting a new mining operation in the same area. Any how we pressed on.

We move on towards Hancock Pass which turned into a very rough road. I'm honestly not sure how we didn't scrape the bottom of the Jeep. An hour later we reach the pass at a little over 12,000 ft and ate our lunch. It was very cold and windy so we stayed in the Jeep. Going down was a little easier but we took a detour to Alpine Tunnel (http://www.narrowgauge.org/alpine-tunnel/html/index.html). This (was) the highest railroad tunnel in North America at the time and quite an impressive sight. There isnt much left but a small group of volunteers has been restoring several old buildings. Sadly, the entrance had a cave in so you cant go in anymore but was still a neat stop that very few people get to see. We continued back down the mountain which followed the original railroad bed. I really wanted to go back over Tin Cup Pass but we were warned that it would take us at least 3 hours and it was already getting late. So we decided to go back the long way over Cumberland Pass and Cottonwood Pass (both over 12,000 ft). We got back late but saw some amazing and remote country side.. I dont know how the folks that live back in there get anywhere during the winter as there was still some snow when we were there. We got back to town, dropped off the Jeep, and that ate at the local pizza place which was delish.

Thursday, Sept. 8 "Lazy Day"

This day was exactly as it sounds. Lay around the cabin and watch TV and sleep and read magazines. I loved it. We walked around Buena Vista to get some souvenirs. We got some candles and a picture frame.

We ate at the Asian Palate for dinner. It was authentic-y Asian food. I had awesome noodles.

Friday, Sept. 9 "Denver Day"

Clark signed me up for Texas de Brazil's free birthday dinner. So we went Friday night. It was so different. Salad bar first. They give you a card with red on one side and green on the other. If you want meat turn it to the green side. I'm talking as much meat as you want. The beef ribs were my favorite. It was so so salty and tender......I need to go back here ASAP. We got the banana/apple pie for dessert. Delish.

Saturday, Sept. 10 "Home Day"

Flew home! Met Clark's parents to pick up the doggies and then headed back to AL.

PS: More pictures to come, but they are on Clark's computer.....which is sitting at his desk.

Colorado!

Amy is grading and we have had lots of requests to hear about Colorado, so here it goes!

Since we had a 7 AM flight out of Nashville on Friday, we decided to drive up Thursday and stay at the Music City Sheraton hotel (Thanks Priceline!). Luckily, the hotel lets you leave your car at the hotel and take the shuttle to the airport. That a pretty good deal when you are talking $9/day for parking at the airport. Anyways, we grabbed the shuttle to the airport with a bunch of Southwest employees. Our Flight was uneventful and very full.

We arrived in Denver and quickly got our luggage and found the way to the car rental shuttle. Getting the car was a breeze and we were soon on our way to Buena Vista. We stopped off for lunch in Conifer at Brooks Place Tavern which was really good. We continued on and stoppoed occasionally to take a picture.

We arrived in Buena Vista (Elevation 8,000 ft) around 4 and found our cabin by the Arkansas river. BV is an interesting town. On the east side (where our cabin was tucked) you have the Mosquito Mountain range (12,000 ft peaks) and the Collegiate range (14,000 ft peaks) on the west. I found it interesting that the Mosquito were formed by volcanoes and the Collegiate by tectonic plate movement. So needless to say there endless scenery to gaze upon.

Now for a few highlights from the Trip:

Saturday we went whitewater rafter down Brown Canyon. It was Amy's first time and we enjoyed it. Usually there isn't enough water flow this time of year for rater but they still had lots of snow melting in the higher elevations. It lasted about 4 hours and we were tired so we headed back to town to celebrate Amy's B-day! I am not not a baker by any means, but I though it looked just dandy.

Sunday we went to Mountain View CoC for the morning service (Cant think of a better background for a church) and then took a hike up to Browns Falls after lunch. The hike was nice going up buy entirely too rocky on the way down.

Mountain View Church Of Christ

Browns Falls

Tuesday we decided (Mainly Clark) that we would try and hike up Mt. Massive. Massive is the second highest peak in Colorado at 14,428 ft (The tallest Elbert is 14,433). I choose the easier yet longer route up with the trail head at about 10,000 ft. It was a cold start as temps were about 28 degrees but we soon warmed up and were at 12,000 by 11 AM. The last 2,428 ft were difficult since we were not quite use to the low oxygen levels. We still make pretty good time and reached the top by 1. To our surprise there was a family of Mountain Goats. To Amy, that was the best part. We sat on top and chatted with a few other folks that we had seen hiking up that day for a few minutes. The way down was pretty uneventful and much slower than we had anticipated. Any how, after 14 miles of hiking we got back to the car and were excited to visit the first outhouse we could find.

Amy promises to post the rest of the story later this week.......to be continued!

Our wedding pictures are here

It's free to look at our pictures but you have to create an account! Hope you can check them out!

http://www.pictage.com/1120085

busy busy busy

I started my job on Tuesday and since then I have been a whole lot busier. I worked about 2 full (10/11 hours) days to start off, like training. The girl who has been doing the receptionist job for about 3 years, Amber, was extremely nice and helpful. All the stylists are overly sweet and go out of their way to check on how I'm doing. I am definitely liking this job so far.

So Clark and I are trying to plan out our meals every week and we did an excellent job this week and stuck with our plan. One night I made a very dry chicken meatloaf and an unsweet blackberry cobbler.

We are heading to Kentucky this morning for our wedding shower. Woo hoo!!!


**NOTE: Colorado is 6 sleeps away!!! *****

Amy got a job!

Since the education field has been kind of a bust recently, I started looking at jobs elsewhere. I saw a salon in Huntsville was looking for a "Guest Services Coordinator" so I decided to send in my resume. They got in touch with me right away and scheduled an interview. The owners, a brother and sister team, were extremely friendly. The atmosphere was warm and inviting and everyone I met was welcoming. They offered me the job and I gladly accepted! I think this will be a good opportunity to try something new and learn new skills. It's ok that I'm not teaching. Sometimes life doesn't always turn out the way you plan. Great things might come from this and I am whole-heartedly excited and enthusiastic about what this will bring.

This is where I will be working. It seems like an excellent salon!

http://www.experiencethemasters.com/

what a pickle...

On Wednesday night on the way out to church I was grabbing my things and realized I didn't have my keys on me. "Oh well" I thought, "we'll probably take the truck" (having a garage door opener in it). As I went in the garage Clark was like "Lets just take my car." As I was standing outside by the car, Clark hits the garage door and runs out of the garage (the car does NOT have a garage door opener in it), and I shout out to him "Clark I don't have my keys on me!!!". He assures me its ok because he grabbed the set to the door. (I am sure you know where this is heading.) So we arrive home and Clark then thinks aloud, "Maybe I didn't grab the right keys to the door" Sure enough he tries and no luck. "Lets try the back door I know I didn't lock it" I said. So off we go to the back and to no avail because its locked too. Clark then huffs and puffs and says, "We're screwed." He grabs his key and goes to the window. "I know one of these two windows are opened, we just have to cut the screen" He takes the key as a knife and is about to cut the window when I interrupt him, "That's it?! No other better ideas just cut open the window?" Apparently not. The first window screen he cut was sadly not the open one. So slash slash again on the other one. As soon as it was cut away he motions for me to hop in, which I did. The dogs didn't seem too bothered by the fact someone was crawling through the window, which I might add slightly disturbs me on the whole they are our big fierce watch dogs, but really how much could they really do locked in their cages anyways...I digress.

So moral to the story: Clark keep a hide-a-key somewhere. the other moral: the wife is always right.

The End.

home phone and fixed cars

I was adament about getting a home phone - I really like the idea of having a land line. No worries about charging it or finding reception. A very quaint device. I got my way, as usual, and we have a land line. I'm excited.
Clark also got a call from the guys fixing Zippy and he got all fixed up and he starts and it was very affordable. We are thankful that it didn't cost an arm and a leg. His truck got a new computer and we pick it up tomorrow. All's good in the vehicle department.
Apparently from the time you say "I do" the whole working out thing goes out the window. Today was my first time back at the gym; I went to 3 classes in a row. Let's just say "ouchies".

The Car "Situation"

I tried to no avail to fix my dear friend Zippy (1994 Olds Achieva). I replaced the starter but the car still wont turn over. Looks like I will be seeing about sending him off to the repair shop to get an estimate. Zippy isn't worth a whole lot so I am debating selling him to an auto salvager. You can vote on my poll to the right on what we should do.

The truck is still in the shop. I think the computer is on the fritz, but its still under warranty for 500 more miles so I will let the dealership handle it! Good thing we have dependable Larry (Amys Yaris).

-Clark

Salsa

Our garden runeth over with tomatoes this year! That means: salsa. We spent an afternoon cooking, using all our tomatoes and our own hot banana peppers, jalapenos, and bell peppers. I love cooking with Clark- he's so knowledgeable. Our plan after making salsa was to make our favorite recipe of quesadillas for dinner. So after taking a break we went back into the kitchen to start. We sadly realized how dumb we were. We didn't leave any tomatoes for our quesadillas :( So we had hot dogs and nachos.

Our favorite quesadilla recipe: http://www.shape.com/fitness/fast-fitness/quick-and-healthy-diet-tips-eat-better-in-less-time/three-cheese-vegetable-ques

(We usually add taco seasoned chicken and because blue cheese is expensive we usually cut that.)

2 cars down, 1 to go.

I had an interview on Thursday at Providence Middle. After I left the interview (2 hours later) I called Clark and found out his car broke down. I met him and picked him up, not all that shocked that poor "Zippy" kicked it. We planned on going back into town for a dollar movie that night and check on it after. Well it still wasn't starting after trying to jump it, so I called AAA. (Thank you Pops for the membership!) An hour later, at 10:45 pm, a very interesting tow man showed up. He told us about accidentally cutting a mans head open and other colorful things. Anyways all that said, we weren't too worried Clark still had his truck to go to work...until yesterday. First his dashboard went out, then it started over heating. We let the truck sit over night and right now Clark is hosing the truck down. Good thing we have cute reliable little Larry. Go Larry Go!

the herringtons.

Clark told me if I wanted a blog for us I would have to make one. So, here I am. The first official post for the Herringtons.