Since January 1...

---I've cleaned out my closet...three large trash bags of clothes are gone.

---I've played Wii dance more times than I can count...best workout ever!

---I've watched a lot of football...love love LOVE watching Alabama football with my family! ROLL TIDE!!

---I've held, fed, and loved on some sweet 8 week old twins.

---I've organized my office. Ready for the new school year to begin!

---I've gotten caught up on my blog...FINALLY!!!

---I've watched the Passion 2011 live stream and decided that next year I will be there as a volunteer.

---I've rejoiced with my childhood best friend who is now engaged!

I'm only 3 days in, but 2011 looks like it's going to be a great year!

New Orleans? Yes, please!

For the most part, I'm a very planful person, but every now and again I'll do something spontaneous.

Probably the most spontaneous thing I have ever done was when I was a freshman in college. A friend and I really wanted beignets, so we left around midnight for New Orleans....ate beignets...and drove right back to make it in time for an 11 o'clock class. Crazy? Most definitely, but still one of my favorite college memories.

Well, this past fall I drove my cousin and her friends to most of the Alabama football games. It worked well because they didn't want to ride with their parents and I needed someone to keep me up on the late night drives home. During one of those trips, I told them about my last minute trip to New Orleans. They decided right then that they wanted to go to New Orleans over Christmas break. I told them to ask their parents, and if they agreed, I was up for it.

Seriously...I doubted that the parents would go along with it. I mean, I'm only 26, it was the holiday season and there were going to be 5 girls so we wouldn't fit in my car and would need to borrow one of their parent's cars.

All I can say is that the Lord must have known how much all of us would need that trip, because it all worked out...and we were even able to convince them to let us spend the night! We left from my cousin's house early on Thursday the 30....drove to New Orleans, checked into the hotel, ate lunch, shopped, walked around, ate dinner and enjoyed some time at the hotel. The next morning we got up early and finished our time with the whole reason for the trip---beignets...and of course, a little more shopping.

Of course, when you're in a car with 5 16/17 year old girls for 5 hours at a time, you've got to know that car rides were quite eventful as well. We laughed a lot, took lots of pictures, there were some good conversations, and once I figured out a little system of ipod music sharing, there was great music for all!

I got home from the trip absolutely exhausted, but with a heart that was overflowing with thankfulness. I truly can't think of any way I would have rather spent some of the last days of 2010 than with Allison, Alston, Anne, Libby and Virginia! Five of the sweetest, God-loving teenagers that I know. Can't wait for our next trip!

Christmas Eve/Day

The Christmas Eve/Christmas Day recap is going to be incredibly boring because I don't have any pictures. It was easier to just use one camera, but my family isn't quite as quick on the sending of pictures as I'd like them to be. Sorry about that.

We got home form the beach on Christmas Eve morning and got to cleaning. For the past 10 years or so, we've always had a few families over after the Christmas Eve service for soup and sandwiches. The house is filled with people, but it's laid back and one of my favorite Christmas traditions.

Now that Emma Kate is almost 5, she has really gotten into Santa. We had the Santa tracker pulled up, brownies out and reindeer food on the lawn.

Christmas morning was filled with more traditions....reading the Christmas story from Luke 2, taking pictures in our pajamas on the stairs, digging into the stockings, checking out what Santa brought, pancake breakfast and then all of the presents from under the tree.

My big gift this year was from my parents...a nice big contribution to my retirement account. Sure, I won't be able to use it for years, but I'm thankful, and will be even more thankful when I'm old and grey!!

I also got some fun and beautiful jewelry, a beverage dispenser---perfect for parties and "The Doors of Brewton"---a poster I've wanted for a long time!

Family Vacation

When I was growing up, we used to take family vacations every year. Now that we are all grown and out of the house, family vacations don't seem to happen quite so often. Back in September, my Dad decided that he wanted us all to go to the beach the week before Christmas. All expense paid trips don't come along in the Smith household too often, so we were all quick to say yes.

We arrived on Monday and left on Friday...had to be home for the Christmas Eve service and for Santa to visit my niece!

The days were filled with lots of laughter, yummy food, naps, reading, walks on the beach, swimming in the pool, visits to the steam room, shopping, gingerbread house decorating and breaking in my parent's birthday gift---a wii.

Ahhh!! Can't believe this "little" girl turns 5 this month!!

Parties, Pet Sitting, Candlelight and Broadway

After two late nights...and lots of driving, I was pretty worn out after I got home from Nashville, but there was no rest for the weary.

On my way home, my aunt called to tell me that they were going to be having a party at their house that evening. Around 30 teenagers would be coming over after the Holiday Assembly presentation and she wanted to see if I could come and assist. I drove straight there and helped with some cleaning and preparations and then headed home to get a little rest before going back over that evening. I ended up not getting home until 2AM...way past my bed time...but worth it to be able to help out my aunt and see my cousin and her friends all dressed up.

In addition to the party festivities, I also got a little visitor on Friday. My visitor actually stayed with me for the weekend and had four legs. :) I by no means am ready to have a dog of my own, but I loved being able to help Sarah Beth and Brandon out by taking care of theirs for a few days. Brooks was on his best behavior the entire weekend. We took lots of walks, and he was an excellent napper.

Saturday was a pretty lazy day...thank goodness, because I was in need of one! I spent most of the day catching up on things around the house and napping. Brooks also enjoyed an afternoon of relaxing and since I couldn't bear to make him stay in his crate, he got the royal treatment...the bed.

That evening a group of us from my Sunday School Class met to go to the Candlelight Service at church followed by a nice dinner out at Tavern. I've been to many a candlelight service in my years, but I must say that the one done by Dawson was the best I have ever witnessed. The perfect way to get prepared to celebrate the birthday of our Savior!

I've been so blessed by this group of friends.

I wrapped up my fun-filled weekend Sunday night with a little cultural activity. This year I decided to purchase season tickets to Birmingham Broadway. I will definitely be doing it again next year because the plays have been excellent and my seats are INCREDIBLE! Sunday nights production of of Beauty and the Beast was wonderful. My cousin had been talking for weeks about wanting to see it, so I decided that it would be a good little cousin date time. Don't know why we didn't take a picture because it's not often that we get dressed up.

GARTH!

Over the years, I've done my best to surround myself with people that possess the abilities that I don't. One of those such abilities is being the social planner...and one of my favorite social friends is none other than my roommate from Atlanta, Christen.

We share a love for many of the same things, she's just the one that typically finds about the activities and signs us up.

About 6 weeks ago, she sent a brief message: Garth is going to Nashville in December. Wanna go? I quickly responded yes and before I could even get my calendar up to write it down, she had the tickets purchased and the hotel room booked.

Our birthdays are about a month apart, so we decided that it would be the perfect gift to each other. Little did we know when we set out for Nashville that Thursday afternoon how perfect it would end up being.

We usually ride up together, but since we didn't really have the time to meet up before hand, we decided to just meet in Nashville this time. We arrived just in time for dinner...Cantina Loredo. Hands down, best guacamole in town!

After dinner, we headed over to check in and take a brief nap before the late night concert. Garth Brooks performed a series of 9 concerts in a matter of a few days. Due to the number of concerts, many were back to back. Ours was the 10 o'clock concert, and when we got to the arena they were still cleaning up from the previous concert.

We somehow squeezed our way to the front of the pack and were able to get to our seats...behind the stage in the upper section...relatively easily. Since Garth hasn't had a concert tour in ages, we decided a trip to the merchandise table was necessary. Then, Christen had the bright idea to try to go and take a picture so that we could get the stage behind us. It would mean someone would have to let us in a different portal, but we were hopeful.

We found who we thought to be a security guard and asked if we could go in and get a closer look at the stage. He asked went on to ask a series of questions...do you like country music, are you big fans, are you from here. We answered the first two with resounding yes's and then explained how we come to Nashville often for concerts, but are from out of state. As we explained, he reached into his pocket and pulled out two tickets with the words "these should help you get a good view of the stage."

At first, I didn't know what was happening...and then when I looked at the tickets and saw that they were for row one, I thought it must be a joke. Seriously, Christen and I just stood there too excited to even scream. We found the nearest worker and he assured us that the tickets were in fact real and that our seats were on the FLOOR!!! We made our way down to the seats only to find out that not only were they on the floor...they were FRONT AND CENTER!

The concert was incredible. Garth sang all of the good ones...and his wife Trisha Yearwood even made an appearance.

We finished the trip off with breakfast at Pancake Pantry the following morning...followed by a little shopping at some of our favorite Nashville places. It was definitely a trip I'll never forget. Next year's birthday celebration has A LOT to live up to!

End of the Semester Celebration!

Last August, I lost a friend. Not to death...to law school.

Sarah Beth was quite the diligent studier these past few months. All of the reading and typing of papers really put a dent into her social life. We often joked that I was more social than she was...and that's pretty pitiful!

I seriously don't think we would have ever chatted had it not been for g-chat...or the fact that her study group was full of guys and sometimes she just needed to hear another female voice!

Wednesday, December 15 marked the last day of her exams. It also marked the day that I got my friend back! So, I made the drive down to celebrate. A good time was had by all...can't wait to do it again in May!