I Love the Smokies!

No matter how many times I visit what some call the tourist trap of the Smokies, I never grow tired of seeing the gorgeous views and simply being in the mountains. We finally took a weekend trip to Gatlinburg this past weekend once I finally felt better after battling a nasty cold for a couple of weeks.

Before we left, Dolly had to check her e-mail on my computer. She's already thinking about this year's holiday letter!



We stayed at the Hampton Inn, which has fireplaces in some of the rooms. It was a warm weekend with highs in the low 70s, but we turned on the fireplace anyway. There's an AC unit next to it, so we can balance out the temp and burn extra energy. I know my "green" readers aren't happy about that, but it was only for a couple of hours.




Here's the view from our hotel balcony.



The Little Pigeon River was flowing fairly fast thanks to the melting snow and ice in the higher elevations.





On Sunday, we drove up to Newfoundland Gap, and while it was in the upper 60s in Gatlinburg, we still saw quite a few patches of snow and ice from the car. It had snowed about a week earlier, but so many of the spots are in the shade, and it takes a while for the ice and snow to melt away.





Here are a few shots David snapped of the beautiful Smoky Mountains. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park will celebrate 75 years this year! Happy Anniversary!

Missing the Mountains

We didn't get any snow in Knoxville over the weekend like many parts of the South did. We're in the valley, so the areas around us experience harsher winter conditions. However, when I'm driving through parts of Knoxville, I have a wonderful view of the snow-capped mountains. It's a gorgeous view and one I will miss if we move away.

On Mondays and Wednesdays, I teach until 5 p.m. By this time, rush hour hits and heavy traffic on Interstate-40 along with the glare from the sun since I'm driving west, make driving conditions not ideal on this route. Sometimes, I opt to go home another longer way because I'd rather be driving the entire time instead of sitting and inching along in stop-and-go traffic.

However, there's another reason I enjoy driving home on Alcoa Highway. I have the chance to see the beautiful Smoky mountains, and on afternoons such as yesterday, the snow-capped beauty of this wonderful area. I will definitely miss the mountains and am so thankful we've had the opportunity to live here.

A March Miracle

OK, this miracle technically happened Friday, February 27, but as a journalist, I always love a good headline. And Baby Austin will always be a miracle baby in my opinion.

You might remember from a post last year about my college friend Natasha and her family who discovered their little baby had leukemia. After five months of chemo at Shands at UF, the Allen family officially went home for good on Friday evening, and Austin is in remission. The photo above is Austin on the right, and his big brother Hunter is on the left.

I'm so happy for this special family and hope to meet Austin and his big brother Hunter one day. During this ordeal, my mom and dad cooked and took a meal to Natasha one day while she stayed at the hospital EVERY day. She stayed during the week, and her husband came to the hospital on the weekends. Austin is such a happy baby. When my parents visited his room, my mom said all he did was laugh and laugh, despite being so sick.

His older brother Hunter celebrated his 5th birthday at the end of January, and I sent him a present. He told his mom to tell me, "Thank you for the gift. If you ever need anything, please call me." How cute is that! He also sent me an adorable hand-written thank-you note.

Natasha and I have been out of touch since college, but through Facebook, e-mail and her blog, we've reconnected, and I've learned so much about her wonderful family's struggle with this dreaded disease. As Natasha wrote near the beginning of this fight, "Austin has cancer, but cancer doesn't have Austin." Go Austin for beating cancer! Take care little buddy!

Final Day of February

I don't have much to write, but I thought I'd make one last post for the month of February. It's hard to believe we're almost into March. I've battled a nasty cold and cough for more than a week now. I lost my voice and blew my noise every few minutes. I'm finally feeling better, but I'm still coughing. Hack, hack, hack!

Being sick put me behind in grading and reviewing papers for a conference, so I'm catching up this weekend. I'm so glad Spring Break is soon because I have a lot to accomplish for some upcoming conferences in Virginia and Las Vegas in April. The fun never stops...

The results are in...

I had the oral defense of my comprehensive exams Friday afternoon, and my committee members were pleased with my responses, so I officially passed. I can now call myself a Ph.D. candidate instead of a Ph.D. student. It's also known as "ABD," or all but the dissertation. Ironically, ABD are my initials.

We also had a discussion about my dissertation, so I have lots to think about and figure out in regards to the research I want to do dealing with the ethical ramifications of journalists who blog.

I haven't felt much like celebrating this weekend because I'm battling a nasty cold. I was losing my voice during Friday afternoon's meeting, and now I can't stop coughing.

The weather changes up here as fast as it did in Florida. It was 59 degrees yesterday, and this morning we woke up to snow on the ground and highs in the 20s today. It's just a dusting, and much of it has melted, however, I was able to get the girls to go out in it briefly. The evidence is below since they quickly made their way back inside the warm house.

Dr. Dolly

The University of Tennessee is expected to award Dolly Parton an honorary doctorate in May. Pending approval of the Board of Trustees, Parton will be only the second person to receive this honor. Former U.S. Senator Howard H. Baker Jr. received a doctorate of humane letters in May 2005. Parton's hometown is Sevierville, Tenn., which is in neighboring Sevier County.

It's interesting that UT has only given this award twice in its history, and the University of Florida gives honorary degrees at least once or twice per year. Visit http://www.president.ufl.edu/hddesc.htm to see a list of all of them.

In other UT news this week, system-wide president John Petersen is resigning. His official resignation date is June 30, 2009, but he's stepping down March 1, so the interim president can take over and deal with budget issues. Petersen will receive $400,000 as part of his severance package. He is UT's fourth president during the past decade.

Get Drunk, Fall and Get $2.3 Million

A 25-year-old man fell onto the tracks of a subway train after getting drunk during a hockey game at a bar. A train ran over him and severed his right leg. His lawyer claimed the subway driver had time to stop, and a jury awarded him $2.3 million. Read more about it at:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/18/drunk.amputee.payout/index.html

What would America do without lawyers? I'm glad I became a journalist and now a journalism educator! :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

We celebrated Valentine's Day yesterday, which was also our five-year wedding anniversary. It's hard to believe we've been married for five years and together for nine. For a gift, David bought each us matching Saint Valentine medals and chains to wear. They are beautiful, and I haven't taken mine off. He's such a sweet guy.

We celebrated with an evening at home and a homemade meal, designed and prepared by David. He made smokey mushroom portabello soup from one of our favorite Disney restaurants, Artist Point. We also had cedar plank salmon with creamy dill sauce, rice pilaf and vegetables. It was delicious! Thanks honey. I love you! Happy Valentine's Day and Happy Anniversary!

The Flame Goes Out

On Wednesday, Knoxville and surrounding areas saw a fast moving thunderstorm roll through during the afternoon. The storm was moving more than 50 miles per hour, so it swept through quickly, but the winds were strong, causing some damage and power outages.

One of my students, Samantha Sutton, is a photographer and captured some great images before, during and after the storm. They are published in a slide show story at http://tnjn.com/2009/feb/11/ut-campus-after-the-storm/

One of my favorites is the torchbearer with his flame extinguished, which is a very rare site on UT's campus. I've heard that an opposing football team was able to make the flame go out once. I'm assuming this time the winds were so strong that the torchbearer's flame couldn't withstand them. Great job Samantha!

Where did the muppets come from?

Ever wonder how Oscar the Grouch came to be? According to a blog on Mental Floss, a lot of of Jim Henson's famous puppets are based on real people.

I never knew that Count von Count lost his ability to hypnotize people for fear he would scare children. Also, Miss Piggy is from Iowa apparently. Telly Monster, who is one of my favorites, originally was obsessed with TV, but producers were concerned about his influence on children, so they made him a constant worrier. Those of you who know me well know why I relate to him so well.

The Future of Journalism...in Nashville

Last week, I went to Nashville with several colleagues for an Online News Association one-day conference. We drove over that morning, traveling across the Cumberland Plateau, and returned Friday evening. It was a long day, but a good one.

I have been to Nashville several times (including several visits to the Grand Ole Opry and once with front row seats!), but the drive was always from Florida, so this was the first time I had driven through this part of Tennessee, which was quite mountainous and beautiful.

The conference was held at the Freedom Forum Diversity Institute, close to the campus of Vanderbilt University. We actually ate lunch at a cafeteria on campus, and I snapped a few shots of Vanderbilt in winter.

No Snow Day for UT

When I started teaching at the University of Tennessee in 2006, a colleague told me that UT rarely closes for snow days. Since I have been here, the university has only delayed opening for two hours one day, and this was after I had driven on icy roads to teach my 8 a.m. class, only to receive a text message when I pulled into the parking garage letting me know about the delay. What perfect timing!

Some UT students have suggested that UT rarely closes for snow days because of a snowball fight near campus that happened more than 40 years ago and is attributed to three deaths. The administration has denied this is why UT never closes, but it is still an interesting story. I told my students to research the snowball fight, and they found articles in two local papers, The Knoxville News Sentinel and The Daily Beacon
written several years ago that recount what happened on February 25, 1965.

Essentially, UT students were on Cumberland Avenue near campus (the equivalent of University Avenue in Gainesville for my Gator friends) and throwing snowballs. At some point, the students apparently opened the door to a truck that was driving on Cumberland and started throwing snowballs at the driver. He reacted by taking the gun he carried in his truck and shooting into the crowd of students, fatally wounding a male student. He was tried for murder, but was not convicted. The city of Knoxville was outraged about the students' behavior. You can read about the other two deaths that are blamed on the snowball fight by clicking on the story links in the above paragraph.

I've never been a part of a snowball fight since I grew up in Florida, so it's hard to imagine that what seems like innocent children's play could lead to death. But if the circumstances are right, anything can happen at any time.

Snow Days!

We've gotten the most snow in Knoxville during the past few weeks since we've been here. Fortunately, it's beautiful to look at, and there hasn't been major traffic disruptions. Knox County schools closed early yesterday and are also closed today, but UT never closes. Below are some photos I've taken during the past couple of weeks.












Dolly was not happy about being outside in the cold snow, but she loved eating a snowball!







I built a very small snowman on a table on our back porch. It took it several days to finally melt as you can see from the photos below.

25 Things About Me

25 Things About Me

1. After living 29 years in Alachua County, Florida, I moved to Knoxville in 2006 for a Ph.D. program at the University of Tennessee.
2. I love living in Tennessee since we have seasons, and the mountains are gorgeous.
3. I do not miss living in Florida, and I really don't want to move back to Florida at this point in my life.
4. Things I miss about Florida: Publix, family and friends, uncrowded days at Disney, alligators, UF's campus beauty at night (not necessarily in that order :))
5. I'm married to a wonderful man, and I'm the human mother of two cats.
6. We want to have human children, but I want to finish my degree first.
7. I do not like steak, but I love pizza.
8. I do not like beer, but I love wine.
9. I am completely deaf in my left ear and have been since birth.
10. I am left handed, and I've been told I have nice handwriting.
11. I enjoy writing and teaching, which is part of the reason I'm in a Ph.D. program.
12. I enjoy watching college and professional football and college basketball at times, but I don't have much interest in baseball. I also enjoy watching NASCAR races and have been to the Pepsi 400 in Daytona.
13. I grew up on a farm in Alachua, Florida, and our neighbors are Hare Krishnas.
14. My aunt lives in a house across the road, and my father was born in that house in 1939.
15. I learned to drive a stick-shift when I was about 8 years old, but I've since forgotten. I used to drive my dad's truck around the farm when I was young, helping him herd our cows.
16. I have a younger brother who is 8 years younger than me named Jason. My mom thought about spelling it Jayson, but she realized his name would never be spelled correctly. Thanks mom!
17. I have a sister-in-law (my husband's sister) named Allison, but my mom insisted using a "y" instead of an "i" in my name.
18. My parents thought about naming me Jody Beth, so I would have grown up as Jody Beth Beutke. My dad had thought about naming me Albert if I had been a boy. I'm glad neither of those things happened.
19. I grew up watching soap operas and I still watch The Young and the Restless along with other shows including ER, The Office, 24, and reruns of Beverly Hills 90210, the Brady Bunch and more. I can't imagine not having a television. I also watch a variety of news programs.
20. I have always loved school, and I'm a true nerd, but that doesn't bother me. My husband is also a nerd.
21. I have been to Europe and visited Luxembourg, France, Germany and Belgium. My husband's step-father is a Luxembourg native who lives in the U.S. now, but his entire family still lives there.
22. I love many kinds of cheese, but not a kind Luxembourg has called Kach Keis, which is a soft cooked cheese that has the consistency of rubber cement but looks like something that came out of your nose. Sorry, but it's just gross. I love blue cheese though, which my husband detests since it's "rotting cheese."
23. I have been to Hawaii on our honeymoon and loved it. I would rather live there than Florida.
24. I tend to be a neat freak and detest fingerprints that can be seen on mirrors, microwaves, television and computer screens. I hate it when people touch my computer screen and leave a fingerprint.
25. I cut coupons from Sunday's paper and use them, and I comb through ads and try to buy most items on sale.

Last Weekend of Studying

I'm in the middle of taking my comprehensive exams that are testing me on all that I've learned during my Ph.D. studies. I've received tons of much appreciated advice about how to study and what to study. I've actually enjoyed studying...to some extent because I've had the chance to read a lot and start fitting the pieces of all that I've learned together in some type of understandable puzzle. One of my professors told me this is the smartest I'll ever be in my life.

Another professor and friend from my days at UF said to me on Friday, "Allyson, this is the last weekend you will ever have to study, ever!" I thought about it, and realized she's right. While I do have the daunting task of writing a dissertation, writing additional research articles, preparing to teach classes, and attending conferences, I'm finished taking classes, and this is the last time I'll actually be studying to take an exam. (Unless of course I decide to get another degree :))

This thought makes me nostalgic since I've always enjoyed studying and learning new concepts and ideas. I think back to all the exams I've studied for during my life, and I wonder how many tests I've actually taken. But these exams are the most important to some extent, and I'll be glad when I am finished on Friday. I appreciate all the well wishes and positive thoughts sent my way.

I take my next exam Tuesday from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. so I'll miss the live presidential inauguration, but we have a DVR, so I'll record it and watch later that afternoon. It's hard to believe that while I'm sitting in conference room and typing on a computer for four hours that our next president will be sworn in to office. Of all the presidential inaugurations I've been alive for, this is the most historic one. I'm sorry I can't watch it live, but as Barack Obama endures one of his first tests as president of the United States, I'll be taking one of my final ones...on paper that is.

Go Gators!

It was great to see the Florida Gators win a third national football championship Thursday night! We've been in Knoxville for the past two, but David and I were both UF students when the Gators won the title in 1996. I know not everyone agreed they should be the national champs since Utah is undefeated, and Florida lost to Ole Miss at home earlier in the season.

I agree we should have a playoff, and president-elect Barack Obama feels the same. In an interview with "60 minutes," he said, "If you've got a bunch of teams who play throughout the season, and many of them have one loss or two losses, there's no clear decisive winner. We should be creating a playoff system."

When UF clinched the title, Obama again said he supports a playoff system. While he congratulated the Gators, he said, "If I'm Utah, or if I'm USC or if I'm Texas, I might still have some quibbles. That's why we need a playoff."

He and others who feel the same way make a good point, but for now, it's nice to be on top again. Go Gators!!!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my mom's birthday! Happy Birthday Mom! Wish we could be there to help you celebrate at Outback tonight. Enjoy your steak! We love you!

Finally Fixed?!?!

UPDATE: The water heater is NOT fixed. We had to reset it again this morning after David took a shower. I think we're both too annoyed and frustrated right now to call the rental agency AGAIN for fear of what we might say!

We live in a rental house in Knoxville, and while it was built in 2005, we've had numerous problems with it. The most recent was the water heater that stopped making hot water in mid-December. We called the rental agency, and they sent someone who arrived one evening at 7 p.m. and told us there's a red reset button that hopefully just needed to be reset, and that would solve the problem. It did need to be reset, and the hot water quickly returned, but after two showers and a dishwasher run, no hot water again. So we reset the button a couple more times and realized something else was wrong. To make a long story short, it's taken four repair trips to hopefully and finally fix the water heater. The top and bottom heating elements and the thermostat had to be replaced. I'm still not sure why all of this was necessary since the water heater is only a few years old.

In addition to that problem, we've had two stove burners short circuit, an ice maker that leaked water in our top freezer and bottom fridge, a leaky toilet, clogged drains (when we first moved it, David cleaned out the bathroom sink drain and found enough hair to cover a furry animal!), and closet shelves that have fallen twice. With the shelves, it took them more than a month to come out and fix them for the second time last summer. The carpet is thin, and all you have to do is look at one of the walls, and it makes a mark.

Some of you might also remember how our porch almost slid down the hill a couple of months after we moved here.



It was a Saturday and had rained all day, and about 4 p.m. when it stopped, I stepped out onto the porch, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw the air conditioning unit leaning and realized the porch was also learning. They fixed it but not very well. Finally last summer, they came back and redid our porch and our neighbors' porches. The workers, however, thought our back hill was a landfill since they left all their water and Gatorade bottles and trash. Some of it we could pick up, but most of it was too far down the hill to get.

While we've had our share of problems, I'm glad we're renting this place. If we owned it, we would have spent a lot of money in home repairs. They probably built this house in day or two at the most. They were still finishing our subdivision when we moved, and I remember seeing houses going up in a matter of days, but the workmanship is not of high quality. David and I both have rented a series of apartments that were built in the 1970s or even earlier, and while you can see the numerous paint jobs, we never had as many issues with our rentals as we've had with this house in Knoxville.

The saving grace is the view of the small mountain ridge that I look at whenever I'm frustrated about something else breaking.



I'm keeping my fingers crossed that our hot water heater troubles are over for now and placing bets on what will need to be fixed next!

The Holidays are Over...On to Studying

It's been a nice holiday season, and it's hard to believe it's almost over. Every year I look forward to Christmas, and while I think December lingers on, it's literally over within days it seems. We didn't travel to Florida, and it was rather warm in Knoxville on December 25, but not as warm as Florida with highs in the 80s, a temperature David and I do not miss at this time of year.

We didn't have a traditional Christmas dinner. We prefer to have Italian instead since we both love this type of food. We made Gorgonzola meatball lasagna, and a tomato and mozzarella salad along with homemade bread. For New Year's Eve, we'll have homemade appetizers.

During the next month, I'll be studying at an intensive level for my comprehensive exams, which are based on all that I've (hopefully) learned during my coursework as a Ph.D. student. It will not be an easy task, so please say a prayer or just send a positive thought my way. I probably won't post entries on my blog until this process is over, unless I decide I need a distraction. :)



We hope 2008 was a great year and 2009 will be an even better one. Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays!!!

Our cat, Dolly (who is on the left in the photo, and sister Sammie is on the right), writes an annual holiday letter that we send out to family and friends. She's asked me to post it here so everyone can read her wonderful and well-crafted account of our lives this past year and wish a happy holiday season to all. I wonder where she gets her writing abilities from?

December 2008

Hello, everyone! It’s Dolly Bouffard Beutke DeVito writing my annual holiday letter that you all know and love. By now, you should recognize me as the favorite (I still tell my sister Sammie she is adopted) feline daughter of Allyson and David. Due to the horrible state of the economy, my parents aren’t out shopping for our Christmas presents this year. How rude!

It’s hard to believe we’ve been in Knoxville for three holiday seasons. No offense to our Floridian family and friends, but we don’t miss being in Florida in the 80-degree heat during the holidays. My parents are hoping for a white Christmas, but that means Sammie and I will have to go outside for photos!

Well, it’s finally happened! We have some exciting baby news to share. My parents……… bought a fish tank and some guppies in the spring. The female they bought, Athena, gave birth about six times to a dozen fish each time before going to that big toilet in the sky. (I had you thinking something else didn’t I.) But it appears that all the baby fish she had are males, so now there’s a tank full of fraternity brothers.

My dad has traveled a lot this year for his job as a postdoctoral research scientist at Oak Ridge National Lab. He went to Davis, California in April and then to Santa Rosa, California in October to check out really cool research stuff that he can’t even tell me about. He also went to his annual weeklong AVS conference in Boston during October. AVS used to stand for American Vacuum Society, but now it’s just AVS since I guess people thought they sold vacuum cleaners instead of doing vacuum science. The former name really sucked! (I don’t think I’m supposed to use that word.)

My mom is in her third year of the Ph.D. program in journalism and electronic media at the University of Tennessee. She has completed her coursework and will take comprehensive exams in January and then start writing this really long paper called a dissertation about media ethics, which she says some people think is an oxymoron.

Here’s a funny story about my dad’s dissertation. When he was working on it in Florida and had all his papers laid out on the table, I decided to try some of his cold coffee, so I dipped my precious little paw in his cup and realized it wasn’t water. Naturally, I did what any cat would do. I flung my paw full of coffee all over his papers. I still laugh about that to this day.

My mom loves teaching, but she’s still amazed about what her some of her students don’t know. She likes to give them news quizzes since they are future journalists, and in September she asked who presidential candidate Barack Obama had chosen as his running mate. She actually had some students write “John McCain.” (For Republicans who are still in denial about our country’s future, the correct answer is Joe Biden.) I obviously can’t vote, but I know it was a historic election. However, we’ve heard more about Obama’s family getting a dog than his economic stimulus plan and how he’s going to handle healthcare. Focus on the issues humans!

Sammie and I are concerned about the lack of a feline in the White House. Don’t they realize how much time a dog takes up and how messy and smelly they are! They’d be much better off with a cat. I’m not volunteering myself since my parents love me too much, but Sammie might make a good choice!

When gas prices were of course at their highest, my parents made four trips to Florida in seven months, and they’re sorry if they didn’t have a chance to see all of you who live there. All of the trips revolved around a family event, so it was difficult to make the rounds and just relax.

Last December, they went to Uncle Jason’s UF graduation, where he gave a wonderful speech. In May, Uncle Jason married Aunt Kristen in Ormond, Florida. A few weeks later, Grandma and Grandpa Beutke celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary (June 1, 1968), so my parents and Uncle Jason and Aunt Kristen planned a surprise party in Alachua, Florida. Everyone who was in their wedding party was invited to a special dinner. In July, they went to Winter Haven, Florida for a surprise 50th birthday party for Grandma Muller. I’m actually almost as old as her in cat years.

They’ll head back to Florida in March when my dad’s sister, Aunt Allison, and Uncle Matt are married in Orlando. Congrats to Uncle Matt, another UF graduate, who earned his MBA this December! My parents can’t wait to meet the new cousins on my dad’s side, Kalynn and Jeannah. Also, a special shout out and thank you to Lisa, Holly and Paul for taking care of us whenever the parents are gone. I don’t know what we’d do without them except starve to death!

My parents also went to Chicago in August for my mom’s conference with a bunch of academic journalists. Talk about a group that’s rolling in the dough! A few days later they were off to Ohio for my dad’s research. During those two weeks they drove through Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, a first for both of them.

Our only visitors this year were Grandma and Grandpa Muller and Grandma Bouffard who came up in October. Mom and Dad took them to Cades Cove to see the fall colors. I hope it’s not Sammie’s bad breath that keeps other family members away. It’s really horrific. Please come visit us. We can always lock her in the garage.

During this holiday season, we hope your gas prices are low and your retirement savings are high. Remember, if you have pets, have them spayed or neutered. Sadly, I no longer watch “The Price is Right.” I’m sure Drew Carey is a nice guy, but he’s no Bob Barker.

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

Love,

Dolly, Sammie, David, and Allyson DeVito


P.S. You all know my true love for Florida football quarterback Tim Tebow. He is awesome, and I’d love to see him win another Heisman trophy. Maybe he can give me the second one to put on top of my litter box. The Gators rock and the Tennessee Volunteers are uh, um, well, good…in basketball (let’s hope!). Go Gators! Go Vols!

Congratulations Graduates!

Congratulations Glenn, Felicia, Jim, Alla, Steve, Sora, John, Emma, Charlie and Cheryl!

It was an inspiration for me to see my colleagues last Friday at UT's graduate hooding ceremony. When one earns a doctoral degree, his or her adviser "hoods" them, which literally means they put an academic hood over their head.

The College of Communication and Information had 10 Ph.D. students graduate, and 9 of them attended the ceremony. Most of them have left Knoxville for jobs in various states, so it was a reunion as well. Several of us served as graduate student ushers, so we were able to get some great photos thanks to Katerina who used my camera. I was stationed at the doors, greeting guests and telling them where to sit.

Hopefully, I won't be an usher at next December's hooding ceremony but a hooded graduate. I'm taking my comprehensive exams in January, so my winter break will be spent studying.

David's Birthday Brain

Yesterday was David's 31st birthday. We spent it relaxing at our house and relishing in the Gator's football victory Saturday night. They'll play against Oklahoma in the National Championship game on January 8.

On Friday we did some shopping, and David bought what I call a brain. It's a custard cake dessert, but as you can see below it looks like a small brain.







We had a delicious dinner at Fleming's Steakhouse, where they gave David a birthday dessert. He chose creme brulee. I'm not a dessert person, so David had the brulee and the brain to consume all by himself.



Happy Birthday honey. I love you!

Mr. and Mrs. David and Allyson DeVito

When David and I were married almost five years ago, I changed my last name to DeVito, dropped my original middle name of Ann and made Beutke my official middle name. It was hard at first since I'd always been Allyson A. Beutke, but now I'm used to signing Allyson Beutke DeVito. However, one of my biggest pet peeves is when people address cards and letters to us, and write "Mr. and Mrs. David DeVito" or even just to me as "Mrs. David DeVito."

I love my husband and our last name, but I didn't change my first name to David when I married him. It's still Allyson. I realize this is a custom that my grandparents and probably their grandparents followed, but the feminist in me says it's past time to wake up and address both names in the relationship, not just the man.

The reason I bring this up is because I love receiving holiday cards in the mail, and I love sending them. They've started arriving in our mailbox, and I'm very appreciative of them, but it doesn't take that much extra time to write or type "Mr. and Mrs. David and Allyson DeVito," or better yet, make it shorter and just write "The DeVito Family."

OK, I'll get off my soap box now. I realize this is a small thing to complain it, but it really annoys me as David and my mother both know well. Now, back to addressing those Christmas cards the right way.

Heidi Experiences Winter Weather

Heidi had her first snow this morning as temperatures dropped below freezing, and the weekend's rain showers changed into snow showers. It wasn't much, but for a Florida girl, snow in December is always exciting. We park Heidi outside when it's cold, and Libby goes inside the garage since David usually leaves before me.



Heidi also experienced hail Sunday evening. We were watching television and heard a beating noise outside and realized it was hail falling, so we moved Heidi inside but not before some of the frozen pellets landed on her. There wasn't any damage, but I guess we're just overprotective parents.



Speaking of children, I was trying to take a good photo of Dolly and Sammie together to include on Dolly's annual holiday letter. They are sleeping on the bed next to each other a lot these days since it's colder. Sammie, however, likes to sometimes stick out her tongue when taking photos, as you can see below. Her appearance may resemble a gremlin, but fortunately her personality does not.

For those of you eagerly anticipating Dolly's annual Christmas letter, she's almost finished with it, and hopefully it will be in the mail next week. I'll also post it on here. Happy Holidays! Hope you're enjoying the weather wherever you are!