WEEK 4: Halfway there!

Woaahhhhhh, We're halfway there!!! (-Bon Jovi)

Sup ya'll?! (yep, that's right...I'm a Northen turned Southern gal ;-) )

So this week concludes part one of this awesome internship! Never thought in four weeks I could learn so much about sustainable living as well as have so many amazing experiences!

Our Monday morning began working in the Human Resources (aka "customer service") part of the foodservice operation. We shadowed Lisa, the Administrative Office Secretary, and learned the day-to-day duties and responsibilities for her position. She showed us how to use the office phones for when students/parents/faculty call to ask about information involving meal plans. We learned one of her daily duties is to create charts of how many students enter The Commons and the on-campus retail locations the day before. She also calculates how much revenue each on-campus food location makes daily. After shadowing Lisa, Syd and I stayed in the office and worked on the Plow to Chow blog. By the end of the day, we agreed on a design and layout for the blog and also wrote our first post! :-D

On Tuesday morning Syd and I were signed up to do a 10am Taste Testing for Freshens, one of the food locations on campus. A representative from Freshens Ed Redmond was in charge of the testing and explained what we would be doing that morning. We (along with a few other volunteers) were signed up to evaluate 6 different flatbreads: Chipotle, Roasted Vegetable, Beef and Cheddar, BBQ Chicken, California, and Spicy Thai. We were given water and oyster crackers as palette cleansers to use between each round of tasting. We were at the tasting for almost two hours discussing the pros and cons of each dish and giving Ed both positive feedback and constructive criticism. At the end of the testing, we had to rank our top four choices from best to worst. I ranked the Thai flatbread first, followed by the California, then BBQ Chicken, and lastly the Roasted Vegetable. It was a really fun experience, not to mention a great way to start a Tuesday morning! Not only did we get to eat 6 different kinds of pizza, we got paid $40 to eat pizza... What a deal! ;-) After the testing, Syd and I spent the rest of the day working on the Plow to Chow blog.

Wednesday was spent in my favorite place...the garden <3. We weeded and watered the garden in the morning. Before our usual orientation gig, we helped the 2 greeters of The Commons mark and tally how many students and parents entered The Commons from the incoming freshman orientation. Each student or parent wore a wristband allowing them unlimited access in and out of The Commons for the day. After work, Syd and I hung out in the community quad of our apartment with some friends. We had a country-styled BBQ with rib racks and other mysterious meats and played an awesome card game called Spot It. (Totally recommend getting this game!)

Thursday was an awesome start to the weekend. At work, we finished mulching our section of the herb garden we've been working on and also completed our 2nd horizontal flat bed! Since the Farmer's Market was cancelled due to the weather forecast calling for storms, we went to Mellow Mushroom to enjoy some brews, pizza, and watch the USA vs Germany World Cup game. B-) After lunch, we worked the rest of the day from home working on the kid's camp schedule, recipe cards, and logo, which looks totally awesome btw! (You'll have to wait and see ;-) ) After work, Sydney's Uncle Lee came down from North Carolina and we all went to dinner at a vegan restaurant called Cafe Sunflower. The cuisine had an asian flare and was super delicious. I ordered veggie dumplings and one of their vegan salads which used vegan soy chicken. The rest of our night consisted of listening to music and being our regular obnoxious alter egos, Ace and Buzz. ;-)

2 vegans and a carnivore ;-)

She didn't think I'd get proof of her eating vegan ;-)

DIY: Tie dye in action

Our logo for the camp <3

Work on Friday consisted of choosing a name for our kids camp as well as officially picking the camp logo! After hours of brainstorming, we came up with the name Camp Green Cuisine. We thought it was a catchy, kid-friendly title that covered the sustainability and nutrition efforts we were trying to promote. We also made a shopping list of all the supplies we needed for the camp and gave it to one of the workers to buy at Home Depot. After work, Syd and I got to work searching Pinterest on millions of DIY shirt designs and began making our tie dye shirts and hats for our 4th of July weekend in Nashville!!! Of course tie dying took us longer than it should have, but we just can't seem to control our random dance sessions and our inevitable procrastination...but then again, why should we? ;-)

Saturday Syd and I spent all day outdoors! Our first stop...ALABAMA! Luckily the drive was only 1.5 hours away from Kennesaw. We packed a lunch to have a picnic in an outdoor gazebo at Desoto Falls State Park. The weather was soo perfect! After we ate lunch, we went to the actual waterfalls and gazed at the amazing view (don't worry I'm gonna post a picture below ;-) ). We spent all afternoon swimming in the stream and climbing across the the top of the waterfalls. It was so fun and slightly dangerous (but who says a little danger isn't a good thing B-) I guess its not normal behavior in Alabama to walk across waterfalls, because all the people who were at the Falls were staring at us like we were crazy -- (little do they know...we actually are ;-) lol) After an amazing day spent well at the Falls, we got back in the car for Pt. 2 of our road trip...to Cloudland Canyon State Park! Once we arrived at CCSP (I'm too lazy to spell it out lolz), we picked our site location and set up camp! Our friend was meeting us later in the night to hangout and have a campfire, but in the meantime we explored the area and started collecting sticks and twigs to use for the fire. Once our friend arrived, we cracked open some brews, turned up the tunes, and got loosy goosy while making our fire. It took us all night to make the fire because most of the wood was a little damp from the rain the day before, but once we got it burning steady, we roasted some veggies and burgers for dinner and stayed up goofing off until the fire died. It was a perfect night to sleep in a hammock, so sleeping in my hammock is just what I did...and boy was that a perfect way to end the day!

Desoto Falls

Our hard-earned fire

An awesome 'shroom

Sunday was an awesome continuation of our outdoorsy adventure. In the morning, we all got brunch at Cracker Barrel. I ate some granola earlier in the morning, so didn't get much at the restaurant, but the home fries and fruit bowl I did order, were delicioso! ;-) After brunch, Syd and I went back to the campsite to pack up our things before we went hiking. After packing and lollygagging, we finally began our hike around 2pm. The nature trails were sooo beautiful and the weather was perfect for hiking! While on our hike, we saw steps off of the side of the mountain that led to a deck. It looked like something you would see in Narnia, so of course we followed it lol. The view from this deck was absolutely stunning! It overlooked miles and miles of mountain ranges...I kid you not, it looked like New Zealand! If you like hiking, I totally recommend visiting CCSP because that view is something EVERYONE should see in their lifetime! After hiking, we drove back to Kennesaw (in a torrential downpour, I might add lol) and ordered.... da da da (drumroll please) Mellow Mushroom! (Don't judge us..or do, but you can't knock it til you try it and see why its addicting!) When we got back to the apt, we unpacked, looked through all our awesome nature pics, and then called it a (well deserved) night.

The stunning view from Cloudland Canyon Mountain

This week was such an amazing adventure-packed 7 days and I'm so sad to say there's only 4 weeks left! Nevertheless, I can't say I'm not excited for the next couple of weeks...Nashville, Baltimore, and Savannah! Yup, we still have many adventures to come, so make sure you stay tuned! :-)

Later,
Natalie