Mallory's Blog

I know it's been a while since I've given an update of what kinds of things I've been up to. Don't fret, though. I'm alive and kicking. I've spent a lot of my time in Gatlinburg the past few months. For those of you who have never heard of Gatlinburg, it's a small town hidden in the Smoky Mountains. It's about a forty-five minute drive from campus. It's a place where people who live at the beach come to vacation (which is beyond me). Also, it's the second most popular place to elope in the nation - with Las Vegas being first.

One of the more popular attractions in Gatlinburg is Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies. I'm a huge fan of aquariums, and I've been to some pretty awesome ones, so I was a bit skeptical of how cool this aquarium would be. It was great! It had a moving sidewalk under a tunnel of sea creatures - way cool. I have a friend who is an artist and loves to draw jellyfish, so I took a picture of the pretty jellyfish there.

Two weeks after my visit to the aquarium, the ambassadors spent our spring semester retreat in Gatlinburg. One night we had some free time, and a big group of us had dinner at Bubba Gump's. I love shrimp. Another group went and sang karaoke, and we all watched movies and played cards at our cabin. Ambassador retreats are always fun.

Look at that face! This is my sister's new puppy, Chandler Bing. We have another dog named Phoebe, and our cousin has Rachel. Our family is a fan of "Friends" if you couldn't already tell. I just had to post a photo of him. He deserves to be in toilet paper commercials.

Thanksgiving is one of the greatest days in the history of days. My friend calls it "A precursor to Christmas without the presents" which is somewhat true, but it's still one of my favorite days of the year. It's a time where gluttony is praised. I rolled out of bed at around 9am, took a shower, and watched the parade. Next I traveled all of four miles to my aunt's house. Begin round one. I ate for approximately two hours sampling all things savory and sweet; I don't discriminate.
After a full day of eating and drinking about three gallons of sweetened iced tea, I had some serious trouble sleeping. When I can't sleep, I do one of my favorite things: clean. I cleaned my parents' entire house. I vacuumed, mopped, dusted, scrubbed, and did laundry.Yes, it sounds miserable, but I had a real sense of accomplishment after I finished. I didn't go to sleep until 5am - too much fun.

Last Friday night was my sorority's fall formal. It was a blasty blast. My friends and I ordered P.F. Chang's for dinner and watched the basketball game before we met at the buses to be whisked away to the event. It was at the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame which is an excellent venue for something like that. It's really neat inside because it has a big atrium with a balcony that surrounds the bottom floor. Naturally the dance floor was on the bottom to make it easy to lurk around the balcony and watch people. Hilarious. I'm a big people-watcher anyway, but when dancing is involved I'm a pro. I'm a huge fan of any dance that has definite choreography. For instance, the Cha Cha Slide is always a hit because anyone and everyone can do it. It's like baking. You just follow the instructions. "Everybody clap your hands"... Oh I got this!!!

This semester has been filled with love. I have friends whom I care for dearly. The relationship I have with them, however, is rather unique. They are in essence my second family. You might say "What's so special about that?" Well, by family I mean that each person literally plays a family-esque role. We have a few moms, a couple of dads and a fair amount of children. We have Sunday lunch with each other. We drop each other off and pick each other up from class. We shop for groceries together. We buy treats for each other.

Example: my "brother" Bubba dropped me off for class last night. When he came to pick me up, he had the seat warmers on in his car and a hot chocolate from Starbucks for me. It's sickeningly thoughtful; I know. Though it all may seem odd, I wouldn't have it any other way. They are some fantastic people, and I expect great things from all of them. So this is my shout out to the fam. Holla.

This weekend was so much fun! My friend Katie came to visit me from Arizona. How do I know Katie? Well, essentially it was friend-love at first sight. She and I met at Eaton's second round interview for the internship we both did this past summer. The rest is history. Although we interned in different cities, we still corresponded via e-mail, facebook, and many text messages. I eventually convinced her that Tennessee is the promised land, and she agreed to come experience all that the South has to offer. I took her to the Tennessee/South Carolina football game, and it blew her mind! She picked a really good weekend to come; what an amazing game. I showed her a day in the life of a volunteer. We tailgated, ate good southern food at my parent's house, and wore a lot of orange. Hopefully she'll make me proud and go back to ASU with a little bit of a southern drawl.

Neyland Stadium: a glorious sight. It's one of only two collegiate stadiums that are accessible by water. This gives way to one of my favorite UT traditions - the Vol Navy. Every home game people line up their boats and "sailgate" before climbing over each other's yachts into the stadium. I talk about this on every tour I give but have never experienced this Vol Navy. Then at the Georgia game, my dreams became a reality. I was invited to sailgate with my friend's family. That's my roomie Amber, my friend Bubba, and I. We met new people, ate homemade gumbo, and sang Rocky Top about every 20 minutes. Then to top it all off, we schooled those Georgia Bulldogs at the game. It was an absolute blast, and I'm so glad that I had the opportunity to do that this football season.