January

Fernando traveled a lot the rest of January, so here is my personal January, in mobile phone pictures (sadly, I hardly touched my camera the rest of the month).

January 12.  Riding home from Dad's and Mom's house in Danny's car, I felt a sniffle and realized--bloody nose!  It was a spectacular gusher, and I managed to get blood everywhere except not on my clothes!

January 13.  I was missing Fernando, so took a selfie to text to him.

And then I made some popcorn, using a smaller bowl that I thought would work.  It didn't.

January 17.  We walked--yes, walked--to Chick-Fil-A for a free lunch!

January 21.  Thomas' car had died this past week, so this Saturday, we decided to get it towed to Laurel BMW (yes, he bought a BMW!) so that he could get it repaired under warranty (his used car got a 60-day warranty!).  I took a photo of me lounging on the stoop to our back yard patio.  What a beautiful afternoon!

We ended up calling Westmont Towing, and got Charlie on the phone...

Charlie:  I'm streaking toward you as we speak!

Me:  (In my head)  Is he naked??

Thomas:  Hey, the flatbed tow truck is here!

Me:  Is the driver naked?

We shared this back-and-forth with Charlie, who was extremely extroverted and friendly, showed Thomas around his car, and got everything set.  When he asked if someone was going to accompany him in his truck to the dealership, Thomas jumped right on it, and into his truck.  The two of them had a blast!

After we got everything taken care of at the dealership, we were walking back to the Suburban, which I drove (and Dad rode in), when my mobile phone rang.

I answered, and a voice:  Hi, this is Charlie the Streaker!

What a riot!

January 24.  I met sweet Sarah for breakfast at Honey Jam Cafe, and we spent the morning talking, drinking coffee, eating, drinking coffee, and talking.  I was w-i-r-e-d the rest of the day!

January 27.  I took a mobile phone photo of a scrapbook page of little Jake, whose birthday was today.  Isn't he just the cutest, sweetest baby you ever saw?

January 28.  I actually cooked!  I made berry banana baked oatmeal for breakfast.

That was my January in photos.  Nothing special, mostly without Fernando, just my ordinary life this month.


Back to life,
Christine

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Tennessee

Fernando's employer has an annual get-together in early January; this year he got to drive down.  And I got to go with him!

Friday, January 6 was the gathering at No--, so I hung out by myself for the day while Fernando attended the get-together.  Late afternoon, I met him at his work and I met lots of people whose names I'll never remember (!!), who were super friendly and encouraging to both of us.

From there in Knoxville, we drove to our hotel in Pigeon Forge, just on the outskirts of the Great Smoky Mountains.  Oh, to see those mountains!!  The photos do not do it justice.

The view from our hotel suite.

We used money from mileage plus Fernando's hotel points for this beautiful suite, free of charge!

After a yummy "down-home" meal at The Old Mill in Pigeon Forge, we retired to our suite where it began to snow yet again.  Though we didn't want to see it having come south in the winter, it was beautiful.

The next morning, we drove into Gatlinburg.  We decided to stop along the way at one of the little parking areas dotting the mountain road to tromp through the snow in order to see the river, and the view.  Just amazing!

In Gatlinburg, which was still intact despite so many recent fires near and around, we went to Calhoun's for some Tennessee barbecue--yum.

We wandered around Gatlinburg...

Paula Deen's store!

There was a distillery (one of two), and it called our names...

What a festive atmosphere--until our server got political (why do people do that?).  But the "fare" was delicious, and they gave Fernando a generous military discount!

Down every side street, we saw the mountains in the distance!

We stopped at a local brewery to get some beer for Matt and Jeff, and this little scene greeted us in the parking lot.

We had a wonderful day, spent together, just enjoying a new place and each other's company.

Sunday morning view from our suite before heading home.

On the way home, we played music, sang, and I took this photo with Rocky Top, Tennessee in the background!  I had to play the song for Fernando; he had never heard it before (poor guy!).

We stopped at a Cracker Barrel for dinner, got stuffed yet again, and even ordered dessert.  Fernando took this goofy picture of me attacking dessert...

I hope this great start to a new year continues for us.  I hope this becomes a year for new beginnings together, a new life of looking ahead with hope and joy.

Back to life,
Christine

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