America's Next Top Model, Basketball Highs, Daddy's Wood, I am a Machine, Lucy Needs a New Barber, and Basketball Lows

Wow. What an exciting week I had!

It all started off with me taking an annual leave day to (ahem, *official* reason) help a friend with a fundraiser for a non-profit I support. What I REALLY did was....

model in a fashion show. it was a fashion show fundraiser and the hearing and speech foundation was in need of modeling talent, so i volunteered! cover girl adina chumley and i get our inner tyra ON.

First, HSF board president had to call last minute and cancel her lunch reservation. I was supposed to eat a turkey sandwich in the room with all the other hired help but when she cancelled I went and visited with folks and ate her lunch. Allow me to set the scene at RT Lodge last Tuesday:

they have koi! aren't they pretty? fish are my favorite animals i think.

inside the rt lodge; the ladies lunching

me, katherine, amanda and melissa chow down

emily and lisa

After lunch, it's time to go get pretty.

pre-fashion show prep; we make it look easy

mr. purple says "best foot forward!" my favorite shoes are super high heels and i am sooo glad i didn't pull a carrie bradshaw and trip in them

here we are lining up to go into the tent

um, a CATWALK was involved peeps. (yes, i took my camera onstage and took a photo during the show)

kay overbey and i take time out between sets

only one minor mishap: button popped off. fortunately i was armed with my sewing kit loaded with green thread. no one's the wiser!

afterward, we basked in our success over a cocktail by the fire pit. what a fun time!! i'm adding 'runway modeling experience' to my resume.

Two asides during the week:

my grandmother was inducted into the educators hall of fame in the college of education, health and human sciences at ut on thursday! it was a very sweet ceremony and i still miss my grandmommy an awful lot. i think the audience was about 1/3 venable, ha ha.

then i went and honored another wonderful woman, alberta brewer! she was a journalist and started the up bureau here in knoxville back in the '40. she died a few years ago and we gave her son, kit, an award for being a pioneer woman journalist as part of women's herstory month. she was really something. i could talk to her for hours on end.

Then, the next day the Vols made an unexpected win and we went to the Elite Eight for the first time ever!

lindsay, tommy, marty and matt look on in anxious anticipation....

when the pressure gets too much and the boys get excited, they like to engage in ottoman slapping

Then, in the bag!

we won we won we won!!!!

This photo cracks me up:

jenny's too cool for school, so ki vogues for her

If you were paying attention, you would have noticed that new friend and school teacher, lindsay came to the party! She was talking about being a math teacher, and before you knew it...

my nerd friends asked her to give them a test. they all failed, btw.

It really cracked me up that all three of them were doing the 'don't copy off my paper' hand block:

no cheating

seriously, we're among friends here

please note they are all taking 5th grade tests using crayons

You'll notice I didn't take no stinkin' test...

Next day I went to Mama's and Daddy's house. If you'll recall a few blogs ago, I mentioned that Tommy and I had gone over with Kristina to help them load a tree to the house for Daddy to split. I bet you were worried about what happened to that tree, weren't you? Well, worry no more!

Well. Maybe you should worry. Daddy has an obsession: WOOD. He is very meticulous about his wood. He splits it just so, stores it and rotates it on occasion (that's right. He voluntarily moves it on occasion just for the sake of MOVING IT. It's borderline insanity.)

daddy and his wood pile

look how straight he stacks it!

seriously, i think he bar codes each stick.

Oh here I am with a great big Rubik's Cube:

oh the irony: i can't solve a rubik's cube

Next: I am a Machine. I run my second half marathon in three weeks. So, that's kinda like running a WHOLE marathon but with a two week break.

running to the finish - 50 yard line in neyland stadium HOW COOL!

they show you on the jumbotron! i'm barely in the lower right hand corner, see? mr. smith worked real hard to get a pic of me crossing the line AND on the jumbotron! thanks, pal!

I was sweaty and gross, so I came home and took a shower but I wanted to show you:

three weeks, three races: at each race i wore a piece of ringling gear i bought on my recent trip to sarasota. i wore a rcad tank in sarasota, an rcad sweatshirt last week, and rcad shorts yesterday. (haha, i see london, i see france! i see megan's underpants!)

Here are all my marathon medals:

knoxville, disney and marine corp

And here are all my half marathon medals:

knoxville, knoxville, kentucky derby, knoxville, sarasota, knoxville

here i am a la michael phelps sans bong

I would also like to point out that my friend Jenny ran her first 5K EVER. I am so proud of her!! I'm thinking four person relay for the marathon next year (and I am not kidding.)

the four runners post race: me, ames hussar, jenny and tommy are all proud of our accomplishments

Next, you all know my niece Lucy, right?

awwww!!! so cute!!

She was getting a little raggy up top and my very literal brother tried to remedy the situation by giving her hair a little trim. No sense in doing something half-way; he went whole hog.

mama and lucy's forehead. the nose picking is a bonus (future lucy, please forgive me)

no worries, she is still a precious little girl!

It was Max's birthday too!

max and lucy look at the cuppy cakes in eager anticipation

Next: Elite Eight game time!

the boys look ready to cheer the vols onto victory

obligatory ottoman slapping

the game gets tense....

tenser...

even rowdy man can't tear his eyes away (i swear i took this picture of him in my lap and his eyes are GLUED to the tv)

And siiiiighh.... game lost by a point. Proud of you Vols! Good job!

To end on a light note:

row mow and i self photo. i took the pic, not him.

Great weekend with family and friends! Yea!