Pumpkin?

I got coffee this morning (at Moe Joe's, not Starbucks) and got a nonfat latte with pumpkin syrup. That's another thing about Moe Joe's.....they have so many more options than the evil empire anyway! I digress. So I had pumpkin, which doesn't exactly add pumpkiny flavor as much as it adds nutmeg and clove (low? top?) notes and aftertaste. The first thing I thought when I took that first sip is, "this reminds me of pumpkin beer!" I have a thing for pumpkin beer, and since autumn is my favorite season, I totally go nuts for the stuff. Anyway, in the case of both the coffee and the beer, it's just like regular coffee and regular beer except for those hints of spice. And to top it all off, it's like 60 degrees this morning and kinda gloomy.....it feels just like fall!!! Do you ever have - not necessarily a deja vu moment - but those moments when some particular condition arises that belongs to another place and time, and you almost feel like you're there and then? It felt like October, like I was getting ready to go out to the tailgating spot to set up camp at 9am for a 7:45 game instead of going to work at 9am only to leave 7.5 hours later feeling drained and soulless.

Tillman's bells...

....are ringing for today's graduates. Congrats. I'm bitter.

Summer's coming

I just took Maddy out with my weak little flashlight, sans corrective lenses, in the pitch-black darkness....I was uneasy to do so until I took a whiff of the air (which is a miracle....my allergies are kicking my ass and I'm tempted to rip off my nose seeing as how it's only a burden at this point). I calmed down upon smelling honeysuckle and rain, signs that summer is almost here.

That smell takes me back to when I was younger and my whole family (22 in all, minus those who couldn't make it, plus the best friends/boyfriends/girlfriends du jour) would spend so much time at the lakehouse over the summer. One of my most fond memories ever is everyone sitting around watching movies and playing board games at night, the windows open to combat the resultant nastiness of having no AC.

I LOVED when it would rain at the lakehouse, adding ambiance to our evenings and making it that much more relaxing. Our back yard (which we always called the "front" because it faces the lake which my family holds in such high regard) had several big bohemoth pine trees that have since been cut down, one of which held a bug zapper, in true redneck form. I remember the lush green sweetgum trees bathed by that creepy cool blue light, next to the back porch. I remember feeling the moist rainy air and being calm and quite content being in the same room as all those people for whom I felt such adoration and intimidation at the same time.

The other day I went walking along the dike next to Walker golf course and came across a blooming vine of honeysuckle. I plucked one, bit off the end, and suckled the honey like I did when I was little, not even thinking of who could be watching or what the vine could be covered in. I wish our family still got together like we used to, but now with all my cousins getting married and having kids of their own, it's almost impossible :o(

Empty Clemson

I'm stoked about a lazy Clemson summer and hope that it lives up to my expectations...I imagine having a cookout at my house every week, and going downtown to drink beer and shoot the shit at least 2 or 3 times a week. Plus working out at Fike every day....gotta get on that. Best part is - NOBODY'S HERE. In the words of a professor friend of mine, "it's like the Rapture came, and I didn't get the memo."

Here's a print called "Clemson Summer" you can buy at Allen's Creations off College Ave.

Pizza and Beer

This weekend I'm going home because 1) I couldn't get my shit together to graduate in May, so I won't be attending the festivities for fear of doing something embarrassing stemming from bitterness, and 2) Mother's Day. It awesomely just so happens that a bunch of my high school friends will be in town as well, and we've started a Facebook chain of messages trying to orchestrate a get-together. Friend #1 votes for pizza at someone's house, which I'm totally thrilled about. So I write something to the effect of "Pizza and beer night? Hell yeah!" and then back up.... I amend it...."Pizza (and beer?) night? Hell yeah!" Then I question putting "and beer" at all. They all drink....don't they? Do I sound like an alcoholic? Pizza and beer TOTALLY go together - why am I worrying? In How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Andie and Michelle have Chinese food and beer night when they're getting over douchenozzle boys - not crudites and champagne....BEER AND MAN-FOOD ARE FOR CHICKS!!! In fact, I just offended myself by even CALLING it "man-food." I propose that all girls' nights from here on out feature beer and something deep-fried and covered in cheese. Not that mine don't already....