Party at The U of A

I love Homecoming at Alabama. It’s a time of traditions and memories. I found myself thinking back to my days as a student and loved watching all of the families with young children. So many Moms and Dads doing their best to make sure their child falls in love with the UA. Love it.

I got the chance to see so many people during my two day visit. First up…some of my favorite UA seniors…Addie, Sarah Beth, Carley and Sarah. Can’t believe all of these girls were freshmen when I was a senior. I loved spending some time with them at the piano bar. We got there early and pretty much stalked a family with a kid until they left so that we could overtake their table. Good music. Fun girls. Lots of laughs. Really jealous that this fun establishment wasn’t around when I was in school.

The group…minus Sara. Guess she was working on her song requests for the evening. With my newest BBM friend

The Sarah Elizabeths. :) These two are TROUBLE.

Saturday was a day filled with some reunions. First up…the freshman year roomie. When I found out on Friday night that she was going to be in town, it became top priority that I see her. She lives in NYC now, so I have to take advantage of her visits south! I could not have asked for a better person to live with in the dorm and I’m so thankful that our friendship didn’t end when we turned in our room keys. Sure, we don’t talk near as much as we used to…and we no longer have every class and group project together…but we are roomies for life. Seeing her is always a treat!

Jennifer was one of the first people that I met when I came to Alabama 6 years ago. She’s beyond incredible and now has one of the cutest little girls ever. We’ve reconnected on our blogs and was beyond excited to finally get to meet her daughter this weekend. Isn’t she a cutie??

Earlier in the week, I made a trip to Tuscaloosa for work. Work trip turned walk down memory lane when I found myself at the Delta Zeta house..pomping for seven hours. For those of you not educated in all things UofA Homecoming, pomping is what we call rolling pieces of tissue paper. You have to have lots of it for the lawn decorations.

During my seven hour visit, I struck up conversation with quite a few cuties…Miss Brittney was my partner for quite some time. I rolled. She glued. We were unstoppable. We weren’t picture ready on Monday…but we definitely were on gameday! LOVE LOVE LOVE her!

Another of my seven hour pomping friends was Karley. You can’t really see it in this picture, but she is wearing the cutest elephant necklace.

So glad I ran into this little chika when I was leaving for the stadium. We were in need of picture to replace some of our others…and this one is definitely one of my new favorites. So much love for Miss Abby! For those of you wondering…my gameday outfit…that was all Abbs! I could never be that stylish on my own!

Gametime. FINALLY. Great seats and great company for the game. The Bubbas behind us were a little rough around the edges, but they made for some good laughs. Cile, Mom and me…all smiles…7-0!

After the game, we went back to the sorority house to rest up a little bit before the evening festivities and look who came by to visit.

Enjoyed chatting around the table with you and your man! Tuscaloosa is definitely better when we are able to both be there!

Sorry for the photo overload. I just couldn’t cut any out!

Happy Half Pre-Birthday

October 14. Six months from now, the date will be April 14. April 14 is Natalie’s due date. I’m a fan of the half birthday. Technically, this isn’t Baby Berry’s half birthday…but I guess you could say it is Berry’s half pre-birthday. Right?

If you don’t agree, that’s fine. It’s my blog…and I say it is. :)

Natalie doesn’t know this…well, I guess she is about to know, because she reads this blog…but I’ve been writing little notes to Berry ever since she told me the news. Don’t get too excited. I’m not sharing those with you.

But, it honor of the half pre, I am going to give you a little peek into some of the thoughts that have gone into a few of those notes…

I remember the feeling I got when my sister first told me that she was going to have a baby. I remember the rush of emotions. The elation. The excitement of knowing that I would be an Aunt.

When Natalie first told me that she was going to have a baby, my mind went right back there. I know this little one won’t share my same blood line...but the emotions that I feel are so similar. Sometimes, I think I may even have a little more excitement.

Wait. Did I just say that I’m more excited about my best friend’s baby than my own niece. That doesn’t sound right. Let me explain. I was thrilled beyond belief when I found out that I was going to be an Aunt…but now, almost 4 years later, I know what it feels like to be an Aunt. I know the love that a child you help to mold can bring. I know the excitement that comes with all things baby…and toddler..and preschooler.

It’s not that I am more happy that Natalie is pregnant…it’s just that now, I have an idea of how fun this next chapter of life is going to be and I’m super excited about it.

I lived about an hour from my niece when she was born…and recently lived almost five hours away. It made visits less frequent than I would like. Add the fact of being a mere 15 minutes away from baby Berry to the knowledge of what it feels like to love and be loved by a child and it just gets me all giddy inside.

I find myself thinking about life with Berry all the time. Playing scenarios over in my head. Hey, I love to play me some pretend!

My favorite little scenario as of late looks something like this. Getting off of work. Driving over to Natalie, Scott and Berry’s place. Bringing over a fun little dessert. Convincing them to take some time for themselves to go out on a little date. Holding, feeding, changing, playing with and singing to their little one.

Oh…it’s going to be good. April just can’t get here fast enough.

Confidential to Berry: Happy Half Pre-Birthday! Just so you know, you don’t have to wait 6 months to make your appearance…you can come a tad earlier if you’d like…just make sure you’re good and healthy first!

First weekend of October

Traditions.  I like them.  A lot.  There are lots of things that I do, say, eat…just because I’ve always done it that way.  The funny thing about most of the traditions in my life is that they have been along for so long that I don’t really remember how they started. 

I love Wednesday. I’m pretty sure my love for Wednesday began in preschool.  We sang a special song and said “happy hump day.”  I loved that song.  For as long as I can remember I have shared my love for Wednesdays with some of my friends.  I call/text/email them just to say Happy Hump Day.  Weird, I know..but, it’s kind of tradition…and when I don’t send the messages, my I often get a call or two from my friends asking why.

My favorite birthday treat is yellow box cake cupcakes with the pink strawberry icing from the can and the cheap-o sprinkles.  No, it’s not my favorite treat…far from it…but it is my favorite birthday treat.  I don’t remember the first time that my mom made the cupcakes for my birthday, but I know my birthday isn’t the same without them.

Last year, I went to Boston over the first weekend of October.  This year, I did the same thing.  While there, I decided that this was a new tradition that I was going to be adding to my list.  I even told my friend Sara that if she ever moved, we would both be coming back the first weekend of October for a yearly reunion. 

My little vacay to Boston was wonderful last year and it did not disappoint this year either.  The fall weather was perfect.  I was able to get some use out of my favorite accessory—the scarf, and as always…time with my best buddy left my heart happy.  The only problem is we were so busy hanging out, relaxing and having fun that we forgot to take pictures.  Well…I do have a few…but they pale in comparison to the 100 or so that we took last year. 

 

One of the things I love most about visiting a friend in another city is that they already know about it.  They know where to eat. Where to walk. No maps required.  Sara totally knows her city.  The first night we went to an Italian restaurant called Sonsi.  Oh my goodness, it was good, and the atmosphere made it even better.  We sat and chatted for over an hour before heading back for a relaxing evening at her new little abode in Beacon Hill. 

It rained most of the day on Saturday, but it didn’t slow us down a bit.  We had a delicious brunch at the Beacon Hill Hotel and Bistro.  If you are EVER in Boston, this is a MUST.  The best vanilla bean pancakes you have EVER tasted.  After breakfast, we made our way over to the Museum of Fine Art.  It was the perfect way to spend a rainy morning and it kept us busy until right around 2:45.  We had 45minutes to get to Cleary’s to watch the UGA/LSU game…it was going  to be close, but Sara managed to make it so that our walking route took us right by my favorite places in Boston…Sweet…home to super yummy cupcakes.  We tasted of the goodness and even made it to Cleary’s in time for kickoff.  As you can see from the picture, we were decked out in our Georgia gear…but sadly, they were not able to pull out a win.  We drowned our sorrows in some yummy Mexican and finished the night chatting on a rooftop deck overlooking Boston.  It was perfect.

 

I don’t like Sundays in Boston because that’s the day that I leave, but since I had a late night flight out, we were able to pack the day with fun.  Church in the morning was whoa good.  Then we made our way over to the North End to grab some pizza and a cannoli from Mike’s Pastry…another Boston must.  The weather was perfect, so we took our pastry to go and walked down to the harbor.  I hated to leave…but work was calling my name…and laundry was calling Sara’s name. :)

In case you were wondering, this is what 2 months worth of clothes looks like.  While I was there, I saw her put all of it into washing machines.  Mission accomplished. 

 

Confidential to Sholcomb:  See you next October, buddy.  Well, I better be seeing you before that, but next October for sure.  Love your city.  Love you.  Thanks for being such a fabulous hostess!!

Discretionary Income

Discretionary income. Some have a lot. Some have a little. Some spend it on technology. Some spend it on food. Some spend it on clothes. I spend it on concerts.

I didn't grow up going to concerts, but have been to more than my share in the past few years. I love them. Sometimes they are at venues where I'm able to sit back and relax and listen. Other times I'm standing the whole time. I love them both.

My friend and one of my favorite of all time roomies, Christen, was around when the concert bug began to bite me and we have made quite the concert going pair.

A few weeks ago Jill joined us and our trio made the trip to see Sugarland. Oh my goodness. Incredible. I had seen them perform live before, but had never seen them headline a concert. It was better than I imagined it would be. In fact, I'm pretty sure it is my new favorite concert experience. Since we saw them perform in Atlanta, we were able to be a part of the hometown crowd. Pretty much I LOVE it when that happens. There is always something special about that.

It rained the whole day...hence the yuckiness of my hair in the pictures...but the clouds parted right before the concert started and we had a wonderful evening of singing under the stars.

Such a fun concert. Seriously, if you ever get the chance to see them life, do it! Forget the technology. Forget the food. Forget the clothes. Spend the money on the ticket!

Me? Kreative?

I love blogging. I love writing posts. I love reading them. As much as I love all things blog, I would never consider myself in the award winning category, but after today, I guess I am.

One of my favorite bloggy friends, Mrs. Jones from A Real Life Wife has nominated me for an award. How fun is that?!?! Many thanks to you, Mrs. Jones...and know that had you not already won the award, I would be giving it right back to you. You are, after all, a much better blogger than I am!

So...here are the rules:

1. Thank the person who gave this to you.
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3. Link the person who nominated you.
4. Name 7 things about yourself that no one would really know.
5. Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers.
6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know you nominated them.

Seven things you may not know about me:

1. I love to travel, but I prefer to do it alone or with a limited amount of people.
2. I have two phones...one for personal, one for business. It's true that I could use one to accomplish both tasks...but I'm odd and like the iPhone and the Blackberry. Hence...two phones.
3. I'm was born and raised in a small town and I often dream of moving back there when I have a family. I've got to find that family first though!
4. I'm an early to bed early to rise kind of gal. I love that most of my friends have now entered the working world and we're able to meet up for breakfast before work.
5. I haven't purchased any new clothes for myself in 5 months.
6. I hot roll my hair practically every day. No, I'm not a pageant girl...I just don't know how to fix my hair, and rollers do the work for me.
7. I absolutely LOVE college campuses. It thrills me to no end that my current job allows me to make frequent visits to the local colleges.

Seven Kreativ Bloggers:

1. Jennifer at Tales of A Peanut
2. Jenna at these are the days
3. Becky at The Details are in the Fabric
4. Ashleigh at Thankfulness Project
5. Christen at Sound of Silence
6. Jenn at Jenn's Jabber
7. Sara at Liberty Land---yes, it is true that she is approaching the one year mark of not posting, but when she does post, it is quite humorous. She has also promised to update in the near future, so I decided to include her. Now, Sara, UDPATE!