kind of an A + A // American Adventures + Misc

Good afternoon, friends! Well those of you who follow me over on Instagram will know that I'm still alive and having lots of fun over here in the US. We had a couple of days in San Francisco exploring (amongst our exploring we went over and under the Golden Gate Bridge but sadly it was shrouded in fog so our photos are horrific :/) and then we came on to Nashville.

Today has been my second day of work here, slowly learning the ropes. We work in the Above Rubies office from 9-5 doing things like packaging and sending orders, creating digital art to post on the Above Rubies social media, managing the subscribers database, answering the phone and sending off magazines. It's really fun. There are three other helpers here, one of which is also from New Zealand (we came over together). :)

Tennessee in the autumn (well over here they call it 'fall') is absolutely gorgeous. So many beautiful colours! Winter here could get cold, I'm told. We are preparing for a fun Thanksgiving celebration. Last night we went to watch a basketball game. It was awesome going to a real American basketball game! The other young people living nearby are really interested in Kiwi things... such as our money. I brought a $10 bill with me and some coins and they were a hit! Seeing other people's culture is so interesting. I'm loving hearing all the American accents around us!

Not sure how many photos I'll be posting, but hopefully I'll be posting a bit in the next wee while. Definitely not as often as I was this year, but I'm aiming for once a week. We'll see! There's always something happening around here. Anyway I'm enjoying myself wayyy too much to tell you what's happening (well ok I'm kidding guys just kidding just kidding calm down ok :P). But seriously though America is the coolest. Next to NZ of course. :P Everything is just... very American! Lol.

The rest of this post was created before I left New Zealand. I didn't post it on it's own because it's not very long in it's own right but hopefully with my little US trip update and letting you know I'm still alive, you'll be happy. :P Anyway. On with the awkward and awesome!

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Awkward:
- Going to bed (a.k.a. walking out to the sleepout) and waiting on the deck while Danella unlocked the door... and discovering what looks like an animal (like a hedgehog or something) sitting quietly on the deck next to you. So you get suitably frightened (I mean come on, it had a snout and everything) and both of you hurry into the sleepout to grab a torch so you can see what it is.
It was an empty potato chip packet.
I have no idea how that got there, we certainly do not eat potato chips in the sleepout (and even if we did, we'd put the empty packet in the rubbish like responsible humans).
Once we got over the trauma of thinking an animal was sitting on our deck, it was quite funny.

- Holding little Michael and cooing at him and having him coo and giggle back... then having him suddenly and without warning let loose a mini fountain of spit up all over you. Then he looked at me and grinned cheekily. I couldn't believe it.

- Seeing all my friend's facebook posts after the American election... :O Half of them were thrilled and half were horrified. All elections divide people but this one was the worst I've seen.


Awesome:
- A day trip with some friends to Castle Hill. Guys, this place is the coolest! It's where the battle scenes in the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe were filmed. We had so much fun exploring it and taking photos on top of the rocks. We also went exploring nearby Cave Stream (where you can enter a network of caves/tunnels and, following an underground stream, travel underneath the hill and pop out in daylight on the other side of the hill! It's super cool. We didn't actually do the underground caving bit because we didn't have torches.. but we enjoyed adventuring around near the entrance.
Here are a couple of photos....

Some of the really cool limestone formations. They are way bigger than they appear and this is very high up.

It was a beautiful day.

Posing in one of the Cave Stream entrances.

- Having heaps of fun at a trampoline park with some friends. Doing awesome things with friends in the last few days before I leave makes some neat memories.

- Encouragement in the form of letters and cards in the mail. Pretty sure no one has friends as great as I do!

Well that's all I have for your, friends... tell me, what have you been up to in the last week? 
How is your life going? 
What's the weather like where you live?