Friday notes

Three notes for Friday morning:

1) One of my ongoing goals is to cook one new recipe each month, and I realized over the weekend that I hadn't tried any new recipes yet in August. Monday's solution: sausage and sweet potato zucchini lasagna from Pinch of Yum, a blog with lots of recipes I enjoy. I was unsure about how it would turn out, but I loved the flavors (especially the ancho chili powder!) and it helped me use up a big zucchini that my mom brought from my grandma's farm. Cheers to the 101 in 1,001 list for nudging me to try something new!

2) The college football season is underway!! This is our fourth year as University of Tennessee fans (read this post for context if you're curious - I can't believe it has been four years!), and the team opens its season on Sunday night at home in front of more than 100,000 fans. (One neat storyline: this year's legacy class, a group of incoming athletes whose fathers also played in the University of Tennessee football program. This is a big deal for a fan base that values this program's history and traditions, and this week I came across this article on Twitter that tells that story beautifully.) This season may be a bit of a rollercoaster for the young Volunteers. But much like how I feel on baseball's Opening Day in April: right now anything can happen!

3) I cleaned and packed a little bit last night, and as I was noting the contents of one box (specifically "CRAFTS/SEWING"), I thought of one of my favorite box labels of all time (seen on a trip to California three years ago this month!).

I might have to find my household's own dog costumes this weekend.