These Are A Few of My Favorite Things: Chattanooga, TN

Hey all,
So we recently got back from Chattanooga, Tennessee. One of our favorite places. After a long month in March with moving and working a lot we decided to take a long weekend for Easter and go hang out with some of our family. We have been to Chattanooga many times, and Madi's family even lived there for a short period of time, so the city has grown on us a lot. If we didn't move to Durham, Chattanooga was another top competitor for places to move. So here are our favorite things about Chatty:

1. McKay's Used Books and CDs
This place is the definition of what heaven would look if we could pick what it would look like for me. It is a warehouse full of used books for SUPER cheap. Like some books are 40 cents. No joke. They sell books that are no longer made, like Babysitter's Club and Boxcar Children. Board books for kids are also a great find there. They also have used movies, video games, and CDs. But if you know me, you know I love books. Yes we also love movies. I can easily drop $100 in this place, and I get so many things. You also can trade in items for credit. If you have books you no longer read or movies you no longer watch, they probably take them and you can spend the credit there at the store. It's awesome. I guarantee you can't walk out of there without finding one thing you want to buy.

2. Lupi's Pizza
THE.BEST.PIZZA.EVER. I love this place so much. It is DELICIOUS. They have a few locations, and if you are driving up or down I75 past Chatt town you should stop by the one off of the interstate (I think it's in Hixson?)

3. Tennessee Aquarium
This is one of the coolest aquarium's that I have ever been to. It has two buildings that both have different animals and also down the road (walking distance) an IMAX 3D theater that shows educational movies too. It's legit. And has a butterfly house. #winning

4. Coolidge Park/Northshore
Coolidge Park is one of the prettiest places in the fall. It also has access to the walking bridge over the Tennessee River. There are cute boutiques and touristy shops in this area (also known as Northshore). Clumpies Ice Cream is delish and there are lots of hipster restaurants in that area too. Definitely a must see place.

5. Ruby Falls
If you're looking for good views, head towards Lookout Mountain and go to Ruby Falls. Lots of light hiking areas and views of the falls. You can spend an hour there or a few, depending on how quick you move through things. This is also a good place to get a view of 5 different states. Pretty cool. And there is a creepy gnome village on the way out. So weird and random but whatever!

We LOVE Chattanooga and can't wait til we can go back. So many other fun things to see and do there, but these are at the top of my list. This last trip we did our first escape room which was super fun and did rock climbing on the outside of the building. Literally was shaking, but it was super cool and we made it to the top! Our next long weekend trip will be for our anniversary in May and we can't wait to check out the Outer Banks here in North Carolina. We've never been, so if you have suggestions of must see things or places to eat let us know!

Thanks for keeping up with us,
- Olivia :)

{Real Talk}: 13 Things I Think About 13 Reasons Why

A few hours ago I finished the new Netflix series 13 Reasons Why and I have a few things to say about it, thirteen to be exact. If you're wondering what I'm talking about, this is a new Netflix series based off the book I finished most recently by the same name, read my blog post about that to see what 13 Reasons Why is if you haven't heard of it already. If you haven't seen 13 Reasons Why and plan on watching it or haven't read the book and still want to, stop here and come back and read this once you have done both because there will be spoilers. Here are the thirteen things I think about the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why. 

1. The TV Series is incredibly different from the book. 

Like the fact that it is "based on the book" is a loose term in this case. The 13 people are the same, Hannah kills herself, there are tapes, and that is about where the similarities end. In the book, Clays and Hannah's parents are not prominent characters. There is no law suit. Clay listens to the tapes all in one night. Even the way that Hannah kills herself is different. So. Different. 

2. I think the TV Series is good as it's own thing. 

This series answers questions you have when reading the book. Like what happens after Clay gets the tapes? What happens when he goes back to school? What happens with Jessica? Does she ever realize what happened to her the night of the party? Do Hannah's parents ever find the tapes? But it kind of is it's own story.

3. I think the worst character in the TV show out of everyone is the obvious choice: Bryce.

The scary part is, there are people just like him out in this world. And the people like him will never watch this show or read this book unless it's required of them. And I still don't know how I feel about it being required reading or required watching for teenagers.

4. Courtney is a stupid brat.

Like really? Your parents are gay? And you're afraid coming out to them will make it all cliche and they'll have a hard time with it. Get over yourself you stupid jerk. 

5. Tyler is a perve/stalker but...

Hannah is kind of a total biotch to him... Even though he shouldn't stalk people ya know that's what they're trying to get at. But then he tells her he loves her and she is a complete jerk to him about it. That part made me mad. Practice what you preach Hannah. Because in the end I'm still trying to figure out if Tyler killed Alex/is going to blow up the school/has a hit list. SO MANY UNANSWERED QUESTIONS NETFLIX?!

6. Where was Kat this whole time?

Like really you're her "BFF"? Did you guys ever talk? Clearly not. 

7. Why does no one pay attention to Justin and the fact that he is in the crappiest living situation ever?

Why is the guidance counselor not more involved with that one? Gosh darn I hate that guidance counselor. Justin is an ass I get it but really?

8. Tony, you are a liar and I hate you.

I don't know why everyone is all "OMG TONY YOU'RE A GUARDIAN ANGEL I LOVE YOU." No! He literally told Clay you are the reason Hannah killed herself. Then you start the next episode and Hannah literally says Clay doesn't belong on these tapes. Netflix, do a better job of making a stupid cliffhanger (even though I already knew that was going to happen unless they were going to change Clay's tape). I liked Tony's book character way better. 

9. Clay and Hannah were WAY closer in the TV series that what was depicted in the book. 

The fact that Clay and Hannah are BFFs in the TV series does make me blame him more than in the book. That was a big change.

10. I think the message of this show gets lost in the drama of it all. 

I think what Selena and the producers and the author were going for is: your actions matter. The consequences one small action may cause are way greater than you can imagine. For example, the hot or not list. Just a joke right? Wrong. But this honestly gets mixed up and as I said about the book, I'm afraid teenagers who have had issues like rape or abandonment or abuse will look at this show and say, see there is no way out I have to kill myself. That is wrong. 

11. This series addresses super important issues that aren't talked about a lot and aren't taken seriously enough. 

If you bring up the word rape, most people change the subject. If you bring up the word suicide, people get weird. Because it's hard to talk about. But if someone tries to talk to you about it, listen. A lot of people think this show is "too graphic" about both of these subjects. The rape scenes are realistic. So is the suicide scene. I actually had to turn my head because I could not handle watching Hannah cut herself. It's all too real for people who are close to someone who has attempted these things. Luckily the person I know who did was unsuccessful. But I can still hear the screams and sobbing in my head from my real life dealing with these things. And seeing the scars on that persons arm every time I'm with them. It's real guys. The show depicts it pretty well from my experience with it. And it's painful to watch. It should be. Otherwise it wouldn't be real. 

12. Suicide is a CHOICE.

So please, understand that there is another choice. There are people out there that care about you. Even if the world feels empty. If you feel like you're about to make this choice, or even just thinking about it, get help. Which leads to my next point.

13. This show misses an important target. 

Not once does it mention how to get help. It doesn't show Hannah finding a way to get help. Or anyone else being told about getting help. It shows Hannah struggling to ask for help from her guidance counselor who was a total idiot in my opinion. It doesn't start any episode or the series with a hotline number or advice for if this is you. I know there is that extra Netflix thing you can watch, but this should be included in the series just like Teen Mom includes the itsyoursexlife.org site on every episode. If you need help, there is a way out. There are people who will listen. It gets better. Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-8255.

What did you think of both? If you watched and have no intention of reading, did you even like it? I'm curious to hear people's thoughts. 

- Olivia

{Reall Talk}: Great Is Thy Faithfulness

Happy April Everyone!

March was a crazy month for the Franeks. We purchased our first car on our own, Nike had her fourth birthday, my mom had another birthday, one of my besties had her second baby boy, my cousin had her first baby girl, on of Madi's relatives passed away unexpectedly, I drove to Florida and back in 72 hours, woke up super early to run our RadOnc booth at the CRUSH 5K and then moved to our new townhouse the same day. All on top of working overtime filled work weeks. It's been a whirlwind. But each of these things that happened gave me a reason to be thankful. Here's a little more about each:

1. Purchasing our first car on our own
We had been saving up for a new car since before we moved to NC. We knew Madi's old car wasn't going to last us long when we moved it here, but we didn't think it would only last a month (oops). So we've been carpooling together to work/school. Another example of how God worked in our lives. When I got the job at Duke I thought "awesome I love Duke this is so great" but it would have been a super struggle for me to get all the way to UNC or WakeMed every day if we had one car. Blessings in more ways than one guys. When I saw this Honda Pilot online, I asked if Madi wanted to go look at it sometime that week. His response was "can we go today?". It was $4000 under budget, the color we wanted, and had all the things we were looking for. When you use your life savings to pay for a car in cash, you want to love it. And we did. We went home with the car the next day. Craziness. What a blessing, right?!

2. Nike had her fourth birthday
What in the world, our baby is four. We would be lost without our baby girl. It's seriously so hard to believe. Time flies guys.

3. My mom had another birthday
Every year that my mom gets older, it is another reason to celebrate a little extra. We like to count by her remission date too, but birthdays are a great reminder that her cancer is on the back burner and she continues to be a survivor.

4. Baby Sawyer Jameson and Baby London Mackenzie
These two babies have some great parents. Love that I also got the chance to travel down to Florida to meet these cuties, even if it meant driving both ways myself. Babies give me such joy. Beginning of a new life, and change to everyone's world that they live in.

5. Madi's relative passing away
It's funny about two days before London was born, someone I knew in high school posted about how the same day someone died that they knew, their friend had a baby. Little did we know that would be a similar story to ours that week. London was born and a few days later Madi's middle age relative passed away in a car accident. It really does show the circle of life. It was kind of hard to grasp, how we were just celebrating new life when another was taken from our family.

6. CRUSH 5K
The CRUSH Colorectal Cancer 5K at Duke was so fun last year, and this year was even better. We had awesome weather and lots of people stop by our booth. It reminds me to be thankful for my amazing job and co-workers. I truly work at such an awesome establishment that sometimes it's overwhelming.

7. Moving
Probably one of my least favorite things in the world. This move was unexpected, we found out around March 1st that we would have to move. We didn't realize right away that it would be less than three weeks later! But we love our new place! God has a plan people. Most people know I kept saying "we're going to live in this one bedroom forever" and was even looking at ways to rearrange it to get more space and such before we got the news that a move was going to be happening. It was sad because I loved our old place so much, and it was our first home together in Durham, but I really can't complain because now we have almost two and a half times the space and it's pretty awesome. Nike is getting used to it too! Pictures to come once we get it up and running (which will probably be a while with me working full time and then some).

So many things to be thankful for. Through the good times and the bad, God is faithful. We are so excited to see where God takes us as we quickly are approaching the summer which means Madi will be finishing up his last semester before clinicals and I am applying to move up on the clinical ladder at work! We also have a bunch of long weekend trips and a big trip this summer planned so stay tuned for those!

Thanks for keeping up with us,
- Olivia