Recently....2018 Edition

Is it just me or did January seem like it took a year and half to get through, and then February came and went before I realized what had happened? And now March is here and spring is upon us. This past week we got an Alabama yellow snow....no not the cold kind of snow (that we actually got TWICE this year!). The type that graces the south with its presence after a few days of warm weather....pollen and it even came with a week of dogwood tree odor....it's horrible!  Don't tell any of my warm-weather-loving fellow southerners but I am thrilled we have some cold coming our way this week.  My hope is that the rain has washed the pollen away and that the cold will kill whatever has already bloomed.

So aside from our ski trip what have we been up to?  Well just about everything and nothing all at the same time.

Eric is deep into the throes of fishing tournament season.  He's fished one almost every weekend since the beginning of February with several more weeks to go before he takes a break (that's IF he takes one).  The good news is he's really enjoying it as he's been fishing really well, and has finished in the top 10 of every tournament he's fished so far.  I even got to watch him on "tv."  Crappie Masters streams their weigh-ins live on Facebook, so I pulled it up on our tv and watched the second day of the Lake Talquin (FL) Tournament weigh-in.  After a 12th place finish the first day, and a huge bag the second, they were in the hot seat (first place) for a bit while the top 10 weighed in, and ended up in 8th place overall!

....and yes the "hot seat" is a platform with two fishing chairs bolted to it.

While he was fishing a Veteran's Benefit Tournament (see I couldn't be mad about him fishing if I wanted to!!!) in Georgia last weekend, I got to see a country music legend in concert.....it was none other than John Conlee.  I'm kind of embarrassed to admit I only knew one of his songs, Rose Colored Glasses, but I thoroughly enjoyed the concert and all of the music It was held in the high school auditorium in the town we live in of all places, so it was a great personal setting with not a bad seat in the house!

Mr. Conlee and our crew....Eric was fishing so he missed the fun

As for the rest of my time, I've been enjoying the down time because dance competition season is just around the corner so my weekends are going to be very busy very soon, but I am stoked!  Our girls were asked to perform at a local pageant as the "guest entertainment" last weekend so we took the opportunity to put our competition tap number on stage for the first time - a dress rehearsal if you will.  My project this weekend is finishing up some of the costumes for the girls so I will be elbow deep in rhinestones and sequins, but I am excited to see the finished product!

After their performance at the pageant (in last year's costume because their teacher [MOI] hasn't finished theirs for this year yet!)

Happy Weekending!

Ski Trip 2018

The first time I ever tried to snowboard was when I was 18 and at my parents house for Christmas break in college. My family had recently relocated to Michigan and my brother had really taken to the sport, so he wanted to show me up me to try it.  A couple of my friends from high school who had snowboarded before were in town we we loaded up and headed down to the majestic Mt. Holly (aka a former garbage dump turned into a ski hill) near my parents house where I attempted to snowboard! The key word here is attempted...in reality I spent a couple of hours attempting to stand up on a snowboard without falling before giving up and retiring to the lodge for the day while my brother and friends spent the day on the slope. At that point I decided that snowboarding was not my forte and that I'd stick to summer skiing.

Fast forward about 7 years when my BIL and (now) SIL asked us if we wanted to take a trip to Sugar Mountain, NC to ski/snowboard. Eric had never been and I only had my one completely unsuccessful experience under my belt so naturally we said "heck yes we want to go!" Clearly the mid-20s versions of us were lots of fun and had no trouble throwing caution to the wind, so we loaded up and headed to the mountains for a weekend on the slopes!

Sunset on the slopes!

Now you may be asking why we opted for snowboarding as opposed to the much easier snow skiing (or so I've been told)...well it's because the people we were with who had experience on the snow were snowboarders and could teach us. I've thought over the years that I should try skiing but we only go once a year and I'm not willing to give up half a day to learn something else when I can get myself down the mountain on a snowboard without falling. At this point in my life I would be considered a geriatric Olympian so there is really no need for me to progress to backside 1440s or 900s with a front-side grab.

For 4 years in a row we made a ski trip part of our annual trip rotation with friends.  We did Sugar Mountain twice (2011, 2013), before we took the plunge and spent a week in Steamboat Springs, CO, and then spent my 30th birthday weekend on Ober Mountain in Gatlinburg. But then life got in the way and all of a sudden it had been 3 years since our last ski trip, so when some friends of ours suggested a trip this year we jumped at the chance, to head back to Sugar Mountain for a long President's Day weekend (which tends to be our ski weekend with the extra day off and works out as a nice birthday trip for me!)

We headed out early on Friday morning and got there just before dark....thank goodness because our cabin was at the top of a steep, narrow, curvy road with no guardrails....gulp.  There was actually one switchback that Eric had to back up and re-position his truck every time we went up. But our view from the Owl's Roost was 100% worth it!

 I could stare at mountains like this all day long!

 The cabin on top of the hill....

Since we were exhausted from our travels and first night revelry (as all ski trips go) we slept in on Saturday before heading to the ski shop and the slopes.  Of our crew almost half had never skied or boarded on snow before, so we stuck to the easy hill until they got the hang of it.  However, we were quickly reminded of why we are typically night skiers.....the lift lines were absolutely ridiculous.  I'm talking 30 mins of waiting to go up....I was thrilled when the majority of the crowd left after the night ski session and we were able to hit lots of different runs during the evening session.

Obligatory lift picture

All smiles after the first evening on the slopes!

We made it home late that night and thankfully had the presence of mind to throw dinner the the crock pot before we left, so we refueled and then fell into food and exhaustion-from-skiing comas.  The next day we decided to forego the afternoon ski session and head to Blowing Rock, NC to see the sights and grab something to eat. We made a stop at the Jerky Outpost on our way, and the guys got to sample several varieties.....

 We preferred to take in the views while the guys shopped

So many pretty mountains!

Some of the more unique varieties included python, shark, camel, kangaroo, emu, and ostrich jerky.

We ended up having a delicious lunch at The Speckled Trout Restaurant and Bottle Shop before we headed back to the slopes via the scenic route.  We took a very windy mountain road (thanks Google Maps) and took an alternate route via a literal gravel/dirt road.  It was not as mountainous, but we were very thankful we were in trucks with 4 wheel drive.  I believe it was on the 2nd or 3rd switchback on a steep decline that we were all laughing so hard we were in tears because we realized how ridiculous the situation was.  But we made it out and back to the slopes for night number 2!

Scenes from The Speckled Trout....the taps were old tools, and some of the fare: Drunken Brussels Sprouts (sprouts and pork belly in a whiskey reduction) and the prettiest deviled eggs I'd ever eaten!

We had a very successful evening this time around despite the ice that had formed on the higher slopes....I did one of the icy runs and did not go back up that high the rest of the night.  As expected we were even more exhausted after our second night on the mountain, and despite wanting to enjoy our last night of vacation we raised the white flag of surrender and went to bed.

The trip home was pretty uneventful, but man did the Smokey Mountains show out!  They gave us quite the fond farewell, and I hope we get to see them again next year!

New Years Recap (and Roll Tide)

How 'bout them Bammers?!?  I'm am almost positive that at least 50% of the population of the state of Alabama is functioning on very little sleep and lots of coffee today after the incredibly exciting National Championship Game last night.  With it being a come-from-behind overtime victory, I am sure there were very few fans who switched off the game early.  I am glad Bama won, but I am also glad that it was a good game with lots of story lines to it: Coach vs. Former Asst. Coach, brothers going head to head on the field, Bama just barely sneaking in to the game thanks to an Auburn loss in the SEC Championship to make it an all SEC game, and Bama pulling their 25-2 QB at halftime to put in a true freshman to up against Georgia's true freshman QB (so many talented freshman played a huge role in the game!).  You can't make this stuff up. The die hard Bama fans are all wearing smiles today, but they're also not tooting their horns like they have in years past because they know how close they were to not getting this one.

So the real point of this post was to wrap up our holiday season, and the only thing I have left is New Years....Eve and Day because the two combined were quite a doozy, so let's do this.

If you recall from my last post I was headed back to AL on NYE.  I made it home around 2 p.m., and thankfully we were spending NYE at some friends' house so I didn't have to come home and host like I did last year. I managed to unpack the car, walk the pups, make dessert to take with us, and get ready all in a 4 hour span.  *pats self on the back for being Superwoman*

Our New Years Crew

Some good friends of ours were spending their fist holiday season in their new home after living in a rental while the waited on their old house to sell (out of town) for the past 4 years, so needless to say they were thrilled to get to host everyone!  It was an awesome dinner party complete with fancy tables, Moscow Mules, fireworks (jury is still out on whether the kids or the grown men had more fun with those), karaoke, and of course a champagne toast at midnight. 

 Believe it or not, this was a Pictionary drawing of Spongebob Squarepants, and yes someone guessed it correctly.

....and the best part?  I got to go home and not have to pick my house up afterward!!! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE hosting things at our house but our porch is not built for winter gatherings so it was nice having somewhere else to go!

We made it home in the wee hours of the morning, but were wired from the festivities so I made dips for the football games the next day.....at 2:30 a.m. I think I finally gave in around 3 a.m., only to be roused by the pups around 8 (such is life).  As hard as I tried (ok I didn't try that hard) I was not ready to go 2.5 hours later when Eric wanted to head back out to another friends' house to watch the football games.....12 straight hours of football games to be exact. I think I made it for the second half of the first game, went home to take a nap and try to at least unpack my suitcase from my trip to Memphis and got caught up watching the GA/OK overtime game, and made it back for the second quarter of the Bama/Clemson game.  Thank goodness the game had an uneventful second half so I could say "see ya" and head to the house. 

I think I was still playing catch up from Christmas all week last week, but I think I am finally there.  The house has been de-Christmased (which took me a week....gah!), and I am ready to take on 2018!

Bring it 2018!

I will leave you with one of my favorite puns I've seen this morning about the game last night:
"Thank goodness the QB change at halftime wasn't Tua little Tua late".....I know, I know, super corny, but still good.

Christmas 2017 Part 1

It's hard to believe that another holiday season has come and gone...no seriously it flew by so fast this year I felt like I hardly had time to enjoy it. I usually spend the weekends leading to to Christmas on the couch watching Christmas movies and admiring our tree but I am pretty sure that happened all of 3 times the entire month of December.  However, I stayed up way too late every night and worked a few extra hours the week before Christmas all so I could say sayonara suckers on December 22 until the New Year.  I really needed some time to recharge my batteries for 2018 and I although I am only a few days in I think it worked.

Our beautiful tree and our 2017 ornament.  We have one for every year since we got engaged and since we did mot of our traveling via our camper this year, I thought this one was perfect!

So what did our Christmas break look like?  Lots of fun, lots of time with family and friends, and waaay too much good food!

We started Christmas weekend with a birthday/Christmas party for one of our friends.  We ended up with a houseful of folks and played Dirty Santa and had a blast!  Great way to start things off!

Our crew....complete with random mutts running through the picture.

Eric checking out the Dirty Santa loot....he insisted on wearing his ugly Christmas sweatshirt I made several years ago even though we said nothing about wearing ugly Christmas attire. I added a little something extra to it this year.  The ornaments have fallen off over the years so I replaced them with beer bottle tops.

The next day was Christmas Eve.  Since Eric is a notorious last minute shopper, we braved Wally World for a few last minute gifts before heading to have Christmas with his family.  Our nephew stole the show this year, and was the most precious little elf handing out everyones gifts and opening his own of course.

 Christmas with our favorite elf!

              We all know who is in charge here....                             What are those? "pliers"

         dad and uncle are putting his toys together           What do you do with them? "squish things"

          while he doesn't have a care in the world!

SILS on Christmas Eve

We had Christmas morning at our house, complete with breakfast casserole and presents for each other that were actually given to each other on Christmas Day (an anomaly for us). Eric got me a robot to clean the house....and it does such a great job! It's perfectly polite, too.  If one of the dogs gets in it's way it will stop and go around it....and it only chased one of the dogs one time. LG was not amused. 

I did your typical Christmas Day hibernation, but Eric was itching to try out his new Go Pro so he braved the cold, windy weather so he could. You can watch their first GoPro Video HERE. I am amazed by the quality of video he was able to get with it all while he had it strapped to his head.  Stay tuned ...There are more videos to come!

Headed to Christmas Lunch at his grandma's house

Christmas in Memphis was up next.  I headed out with LG and Peanut a couple of days after Christmas (Eric had a wrestling match so he stayed behind with Hawk and Beau) to spend a few days with Mom and Dad and Matt while he was in town. But that's a post for another day.

November Recap: Football, Thanksgiving, and Gum Grafts

To say that the month of November was a whirlwind was a complete and total understatement.  I actually realized on Dec 1 that I made it the entire month without working a single Friday, not that I was complaining at all.....but that first 5-day week in more than an month was rough.  Actually having to come back to work on Monday after only 2 days off was probably worse than having to work 5 days last week, just saying.

Coach Cagle getting the boys ready to go.

I have lots to recap, so let start where we left off October.  Football season went out with a bang.  We ended the regular season 9-1, and headed into the playoffs with a 2 seed in the region.  After a thrilling OT win where we got a huge goal line stop (the only time we stopped them all night on 4th and 1) and kicked a field goal to win, we ran into a giant brick wall dressed like high school football players. The team we faced in the second round was the biggest team we had ever seen, and our kids came up short (literally). 

We were so sad to see the season end because it really was a special one, but as all good things do, this season did as well.  This team was only the third team in school history to win 10 games, so this team had absolutely nothing to be ashamed of.  They'll go down in the ole THS football history books as one of the best to come through.

The field was stormed my a mob of kids after the 1st round win....BTW he kicked it on the other end of the field and made it to the 30 on the other side before the rest of the team caught up with him and tackled him.

We closed up the season just in time for our Turkey Day Holiday.  Thankfully I was able to partake.  I had 2 gum grafts done the first week in November that seriously hampered my eating abilities (and kicked off my pre-holiday diet), for a few weeks.  It's kind of hard to explain without getting too graphic but basically, they cut 2 pieces of gum from the roof of my mouth and sewed them to my gums that were receding on the outside. I didn't get any good pics of the bottom because I was instructed not to pull on my lip so all you get is the view of the roof of my mouth where the took the pieces of my gums....

The first picture is 10 days post gum removal. I had no idea what it looked like prior to this because they put a layer of connective tissue glue (superglue for your mouth) over it so my tongue would not hit the stitches.  The second picture is 14 days post procedure.  I was completely shocked at the improvement that was made in that short amount of time and was extremely thankful I could not see what it looked like at the beginning.  I have a feeling it would not have been pretty. 

My periodontist told me the graphs on my bottom teeth looked like Franken-mouth due to the mass of stitches involved. I was down for a few days but never had major issues. I'd heard horror stories about recovery from the procedure, but I was never in excruciating pain. I'll chalk it up to 48 straight hours on the couch and a liquid diet that meant minimal movement in my mouth.

My two takeaways from the entire ordeal were 1) I never realized how much my tongue hits the roof of my mouth: talking, swallowing, eating....it's constant, and more importantly 2) It is possible to brush your teeth too hard.  This is why I had to have the procedure done.  However I highly recommend having it done as a preventative measure rather than waiting until you start losing bone and getting infection....I've heard that's part of what can make it so bad.

I went back the Friday before Thanksgiving to get my stitches out and then went immediately to Publix and bought a Thanksgiving Turkey Sub, which I promptly took home and cut up into pieces to eat.  It was soooooo good. I'm basically recovered now.

Turkey Day 2017

Our Thanksgiving was full of turkey and family time with all of Eric's family.  We all headed over to his grandma's house for turkey and every Thanksgiving side you could think of.  I think I cooked less for this Thanksgiving than any other I have as an adult.  When I called Eric's grandma to ask what we could bring I was told buttermilk pie before I could even finish my question.....his grandma LOVES my buttermilk pie.  By the end of the conversation we were in charge of frying the turkeys and I had also volunteered to make Oyster Stuffing....I won't touch the stuff, but Eric loves it.  The things we do for love... 

Somehow we managed to leave with more food than we came with.  I wasn't complaining though because I think thanksgiving leftovers might be my favorite meal.  I ate turkey sandwiches topped with cranberry relish on Sister Schubert's dinner rolls for the next several days.

Obligatory plate pic.....I was just a bit excited to get to eat this. 

I headed out early Friday morning, as usual to check out the Black Friday Deals.  I refuse to go on Thanksgiving Day but I love heading out around 6AM on Friday...the crowds from the night before are gone and everyone else is still sleeping off their turkey comas so the stores are only moderately crowded and the lines are not bad at all.  I made it through one mall before meeting Eric's Mom and the other mall.  We hit up a couple places before she headed back to her house and I stayed around to try to go a few more places, but it was starting to get crowded so I headed home myself.

I'd love to say that was the end of our grand holiday weekend, but it wasn't....not even close, but that's a post for another day....

Nobody Does Homecoming Like Us

Nothing like an occasion-appropriate Snapchat filter, right?!

As Homecoming Week approaches in our small town each year, and people start getting excited about the upcoming festivities for the returning 20-year reunion class there's a phrase that you hear every year, "Nobody does Homecoming like our town."  Since I am not from this town originally, and didn't attend high school there I feel like I can objectively assess the festivities without having and biases.

In years past I would have said yes, this town throws a pretty awesome homecoming celebration, but I don't know that I would call it the greatest Homecoming celebration ever.  But that was before....before I was actually engrossed in all of the festivities...3 full days worth of activities.

Full disclosure I did not actually participate in all of the scheduled activities because some of us still have to work while everyone else played.  A typical Homecoming Weekend starts on Thursday night with a candle light ceremony with the returning 20-year reunion class and the current graduating class that is followed up by a bonfire behind the school.  I've never been, but I've heard it's lots of fun with the band playing, cheerleaders cheering, and the crowd getting pumped up for the game that weekend.  It's the kick off for all of the festivities, and I am sure it went late into the night for those who went.

But you can't stay out too late because the next morning is the Homecoming Pep Rally that starts at 8:00 A.M.....no rest for the weary.  It's part regular pep rally put on by the school and part nostalgic pep rally put on by the returning class. Once again I was not in attendance but I did watch parts of it that were live-streamed, which included several games and dance-offs to 90s classics.

After the nearly 2 hour pep rally, the reunion class was treated to a tailgate lunch. All three schools let out shortly afterward, and the entire town decended upon the "downtown" area for the Homecoming Parade.  I have never made one of these parades, but I hear they are quit ethe specacle.  Lots of floats, lots of fun, lots of candy being thrown.  My SIL said my nephew had at least 10 suckers, which is probably the only thing that kept him going all day long with no nap.

This little town of ours showed up and showed out for Homecoming this year!  We have an enormous stadium...the only 2 level high school stadium I've been to...and it was FULL Friday night! 

I finally joined in the Homecoming festivities that evening before the game started: the annoucement of the graduating class and annoucement of Homecoming Court/Queen for 2017, before cheering our Tigers to a 36-21 victory over the 4th ranked team in the state!  How's that for a Homecoming opponent?! This was also a HUGE region win for us that puts us in good shape to host a first round playoff game in a few weeks -- as long as we take care of business this Friday night. 

One of the highlight of the game was a bobbled snap on a PAT, that our holder (who is not a QB) picked up, rolled out to his left, pump faked twice and hit one of our receivers in the back of the endzone.  I think some people thought it was planned....coach said no, but that they practice what to do in a case like that every week.  And that kiddies is why you practice. It was a huge momentum swing for us!

Post-game smiles! That would be my infamous cowbell in my hand with my shaker. That puppy starts ringing as soon as the game starts and doesn't stop until it's over...especially when the defense is on the field.  Nothing makes my heart happier in a game than watching our opponent struggle to hear a play being called in from the sideline.....don't worry we bring earplugs for anyone who sits around us. But if you want peace and quiet, you should probably stay home and listen to the game one the radio.  You'll still hear the cowbells, but they don't have the same punch they do live.

After the game we were tired but still pretty excited so we headed over to hang out with the reunion class for a little while.  We have several friends in that class, and Eric's brother graduated that year so Eric knows everyone...he was the manager for the football team all those years since he was just a punk little brother back then. After a few hours we finally packed it in about 1:30 A.M. and crawled into bed after 2 A.M.

The next morning we got up and I headed to Pioneer Day (used to be Syrup Sopping) in the booming metropolis of Loachapoka, AL (population 180) with my BIL, SIL, and nephew.  This tiny town puts on a huge fall festival each year that draws 20,000 people to its downtown. They have vendors, music, food, and activities for the kids, too! It had been a few years since I'd been (2012, 2014), but we had a blast! We brought home some delicious Amish Cheese and Kettle Corn, and my nephew rode a pony.  It was great time!

Riding all by himself!

I took the afternoon off...aka I sat on the couch and vegged. I tried to pull Purdue through but they did not have the success that THS did with their 2-point conversion to send the game into over time.

So you'd think that after all of the activities that had gone on, Homecoming would be done by Saturday night, right?  Wrong.  The c/o 98 had a dinner planned for that evening that just so happened to take place in the reception hall right behind our house during the Auburn game.  A few concerned Tiger fans mentioned this the night before, so Eric told them we'd have the game on at the house, and invited folks to come watch the game when they finished up across the street. Famous.Last.Words.

The reunionees started trickling in at first, until one point when I ran inside to check on the dogs and came back out to 50+ folks in our yard! I guess the official party had ended and they needed an after party space.  It was a bit overwhelming, but they were all great!  I am glad we were able to help them prolong the weekend's activities a little longer.  There was a lot of laughter, dancing, and talking about the old days that went on all until the wee hours of the morning again. 

I think they were all feeling the effects from the previous 3 days, so they started trickling out earlier than they had from the other party we went to the evening before....they are almost *forty* I guess....says the girl who is still 5 years away from her 20 year reunion. I realized at one point that I was among the younger ones in the crowd all weekend.  It doesn't happen much anymore so I surely enjoy it when it does!  And I document it too! Although I have made a mental note to mentally and physically prepare myself for Eric's reunion in a few years!

Recovery from the previous two nights was imperative on Sunday. My major accomplishments included: 4 loads of laundry, 4+ episodes of Gilmore Girls watched, and a 3 hour nap.  I wasn't the only one exhausted, either.....

All day long....

The little boogers slept until 8:30 A.M. which is unheard of at our house....they were loving all of the people at our house on Saturday to pet them and play with them. They slept most of the day, only waking up when I took them on a walk and feed them dinner. 

So yeah, after being more involved than ever with the reunion part of Homecoming, I can honestly say I get why people say, "No one does Homecoming like our town."  Take it from a transplant....it's true! 

Guest Bathroom Re-Do

Last year I wrote a post about our disastrous bathroom-redo attempt. Long story short, we had the bathrooms painted and I gave Eric a picture of what color I wanted for the walls in the guest bathroom that looked like this:

(this was the actual picture I gave him)

What I got was this:

Ok Ok maybe that's just what I saw in my head every time I walked in there, which was not often because it nauseated me to be in there. This is what it actually looked like:

It's not as bad as Frozen, but not what I wanted at all.  While trying to figure out how he and the paint guy came to this color I came across this infographic and it all made perfect sense.

via

So much truth in one picture, right?

For the last year the bathroom looked exactly like it did before we painted but with purple walls. I threw everything back in it because I refused to do any decorating until it was repainted.....that is until Eric went out of town to a fishing tournament last month. *muahahahah*

As I was walking the dogs one morning I decided that was it I'd had enough of the hideous bathroom.  I went to Walmart, picked up some paint and paint supplies and headed home to paint.  Of course I had a near panic attack when I looked at the dot of paint on the top of the can and convinced myself that I had picked out the same hideous princess purple that was already on the walls.  But thankfully I did not.  See???

After a few hours and a couple of coats of Soft Dusty Violet paint I finally had my peaceful soft purple oasis that I wanted.

Who wouldn't want to hang out in this pretty bathroom all day long?!

For comparison:

It may not look like much but trust me it's a HUGE difference in a small room!

I was so excited about it in fact that I spent the next afternoon at Hobby Lobby and World Market picking out decor for it!

vase/sconces/lotus candle holder

My original plan was to do succulents in the planters, but Hobby Lobby was out of them so I went with the moss and a pack of fake air plants and voila! The lone fake succulent in the small jar in the top left pic came from the dollar bins at Target.  #winning

I would still like to replace the towel racks, light fixture over the mirror, and maybe the faucet someday but I am so happy with the color and decor I was able to change it should hold me over for at least a few months. 

.....and by the way it only took him 3 days to notice it after he got home.