Weekend fun

Today we're heading north for a day-long trip -- I'm excited to see the fall colors and maybe take the canoe out. I wonder how long it'll take before the dog jumps out of the boat and into the water. Will post some photos on Monday.

I forgot to mention that last week D came up with the genius idea to can strips of caribou meat in the pressure canner with red and green peppers and onions. Holy cats, that stuff is tasty! We heated it all up and made fajitas with it.

In wedding news, I think we found the ring of my dreams people!!! And the matching wedding band. I finally had to go online and create something, because if you want a job done right gotta do it yourself. At this (very reputable) online company, you can pick out a loose stone and specific band design. We were having zero luck with stores locally. Case in point -- a sales guy at Zales (in a RED suit, no less) showed me a flawed diamond. Do I look like I would accept a cloudy SI ring with a visible crack down the bottom? Dude, please. I was raised by a woman who knows diamond backwards and forwards and every direction in between.

So I am currently in the "convincing-my-fiance'-that-this-ring-is-THE-ONE" stage. It's platinum and has shiny diamonds on the band and a princess cut stone and colorless and VVS and ah...give me a moment here, I'm getting all lightheaded just thinking about it.

Rescue me

These fish live at the Gatlinburg Aquarium -- the odd thing is that they swim facing the glass, almost as if they are talking to the people who walk by...

Photo hoarding

Some fun wedding stuff that has caught my eye lately...I'm definitely in the idea-gathering stage of the engagement!

And I love this -- a big 'ol canoe filled with cold beverages (Alaskan Amber, perhaps?). D has a moose-hunting canoe that his parents generously hauled up here earlier this summer, but it's a bit dusty and grimy and disgusting after floating down a river up north. And I think it's a camoflauge pattern -- there will be absolutely zero camo items at our wedding.

Photobooth

From a random photobooth in downtown Gatlinburg. As you can see, the first shot caught us completely unawares... (click to enlarge)

Dead stuff on my deck

After a week of hunting, D returned on Friday evening with a ton of caribou meat. He shot a really nice one with his bow and it was so great to hear his happy voice on the phone afterwards! The drive is something like 16 hours north (one way) so I usually expect that he'll be gone for a week or more. This round took a week exactly.

When I think about it, the amount of work that goes into hunting is pretty staggering -- D shoots the animal, and then has to field dress it and haul the meat ON HIS BACK to the truck or boat or wherever (sometimes for miles and multiple trips). Then at home he pretty much butchers everything by himself (because I suck at this) and I manage to help a tiny bit with canning or freezer packing. The burger-making process is kinda fun though -- I am the designated grinder operator!

Here is the sweet rack off of D's caribou - his biggest one yet. It is outside on the deck so little critters can clean the meat off the skull. The magpies have really been eating up a storm over the past few days. These birds are fearless a-holes -- I'm pretty sure they enjoy challenging Drift and the cats when on the deck together.

Drift wants in, the cats want out. We spent almost an hour driving around and looking for Drift last night after he slipped out of the yard and went exploring. D finally found him not too far from our house.

Summer is coming to an end and I'm pretty sad about it. We had the most amazing few months -- unbelieveable weather, lots of family time, good fishing and an engagement! Best summer ever.

My outdoor plants are still hanging in there, especially the geraniums (my favorite). I've been trying to bring a few in and set them in bud vases before our first frost finally shows up and kills off the plants once and for all.

Tennessee 4: Atlanta & Korean Market

We took one day to visit the city of Atlanta (about 3.5 hours away) -- well to be honest, we hit up a mall, the Korean market and a sushi restaurant. No sightseeing or visiting museums or anything like that - we had priorities!

Apparently a large contingent of Korean people live in Atlanta, because this whole grocery store was dedicated to Korean and Asian food/products. I've only seen a bigger market in California.

Yum, yum...kimchi!

I was really debating on whether to get this neat fish pan -- ended up not buying it. Cute though, huh?

Gabe (Risha's boyfriend) took this photo of us as we waited for dinner. What a nice guy.

Me and my gorgeous mom.

I'm not exactly sure what is being accomplished in this photo...but they have some utensil skillz, yo!

Some appetizer dishes, served Asian style: kimchi, pickled turnip, spicy greens, bean sprouts.

My mom ordered her entree' and the dish was seriously 3x the size of her head.