Vacation Season Has Begun!

So, it's official...vacation season is here! It all started last weekend with a wonderful trip to VA Beach to visit my wonderful friend Brittany! Brooke and I decided that it would be a good time to go up there so we did it!

After leaving extra early for ATL we decided that we had enough time for a "run-through" of IKEA. Now let me preface this by telling you that Brooke has never been to IKEA so a 30 minute run through was a bit hard! We made it through even though Brit was terrified that we were going to miss our flight after all of our early preparation and everything. We did it though and arrived in VA Beach on time shortly after 9:00.

Saturday was a very jam-packed day! We started out with a yummy breakfast at Big Sams which is just about a block from Brittany and Hall's house. We then decided to bike to the boardwalk and saw all of the shops and got to see what VA Beach was all about. We also proceeded to have our first round of Dairy Queen which would not be the last! :) After swimming by the beach we then decided to hit up the waterpark for some fun! It was a lot of fun and we managed to only get a few wedgies and flash a few people in the process. We also made a few little friends with some young boys and different times that wanted to discuss the best slides! That night Brit made her London Broil specialty and we wrapped it up with drinks out with some of Hall's Navy friends in which I was practically falling asleep at the table!

Sunday proved to be another big day with about four hours of time at the beach. We also had to walk about half a mile with all of our belongings until Hall found the "perfect spot" but it did end up being perfect! I actually rode a boogie board for the first time in my life successfully! Hall told me that I should buy one but he said the nice ones were about $100 so I figure my $10 one might last the first day in Hilton Head but who knows! When we found out there was an H&M in VA Beach we knew that we just HAD to go! We didn't realize that it was 5:30 on a Sunday though! By the time we got there we had about 15 minutes and I still managed to spend about $75! Imagine the trouble I would have gotten in with an hour or two! That night we had a great dinner of fish tacos and of course we wrapped it up with nothing else but DAIRY QUEEN! We watched Hall fly his F-18 (?) in while we were eating. He was just a little speck in the distance! :)

Monday Brit had to work but Brooke and I still enjoyed ourselves. After relaxing most of the morning, we met Brittany for lunch at Rudees where I enjoyed a ginormous fish sandwich which proved to be a bad choice later on! Brooke and I then decided to hit up the carnival on the boardwalk. The carnival was great, they had some awesome rides, but I got motion sickness! I NEVER get motion sick so this was very sad for me because I couldn't ride the rides without thinking about that ginormous fish sandwich! Needless to say we wrapped that up after not too long and biked back home. When Brittany got home that night we ate a quick dinner and then OF COURSE decided we needed to hit up DQ one more time for the ride to the airport.

We managed to get the airport fine and got back to ATL safely. Although Brooke wanted to stay in ATL and party the night away I told her that we had to back! ;) Of course Drew wanted to know when I told him that we got to ATL if we were going to stop for blizzards yet again before the ride home. Only one a day now Drewboy!

The trip was amazing. We had a fabulous, event-filled time but more importantly we got to see our bestest friend in the world Brittany who we miss terribly! We will be back up there soon!

Next trip, Hilton Head Island, begins on July 4th and I am ready! Who know what shenanigans we will get into there. Guess you will have to check back to see!

Here are a few pics from my trip! Check out facebook for the rest! :)

My New Obsession!

So...I have a new obsession! Paperbackswap.com! It is a really great site that I read about in People magazine. It is free and you can get books from all across the country that you get to keep! So, how does it work?

Just visit http://www.paperbackswap.com/ and create an account. In order to start you have to upload at least ten of your own books that you are willing to send to other people. You receive credits when people request your books and you send them. You are then able to request a book from someone else. All that you have to pay for is postage which is typically about $2 and you can print right from home. They have over 3,000,000 books to choose from so there really is something for everyone.

I love it because once I have read a book I will not likely read it again unless it is one of my favorites. I can now list it and send it on to someone else. It is like a library except you get to keep the books!

I have already sent three books off and have received the following books that I am excited to read:

I have to run how far?!

So... a few months ago I had this great idea to get together a relay team for the Mercedes Marathon. I have run in several 5Ks but had never tried a 10. I decided that if I could get 4 other people then we could run a relay in the Mercedes and I would get to try out my first 10K. This idea is great...in theory! I didn't put it all together. I would be running over 6 miles, when my current longest was about 3.5 and I would be training in freezing temperatures!

Well here I am one week out from the race and I was pretty close to being ready. I have been running about every other day and have run a little over 5 miles at one time. I figure that I can push through it on race day to get that last mile. That is...until yesterday! I ran about 45 minutes Saturday and only about 20 minutes yesterday BUT somehow I got pushed over the edge and what did I develop? SHIN SPLINTS! My left leg kills me and I am all limping around!

Drew told me that he isn't going to tell the team members about my injury because hopefully I should be better by race day. I am following strict orders of ibuprofen and sit here typing with a bag of frozen corn on my leg. So I have 5 days to recoup before race day. Let's just say...I know next week that I am really going to be hurting! So everybody..PRAY for me that I can make it through the race Sunday! I really have wanted to do this for like three years!

Does My Music Really Describe Me?

Anyone that really knows me will know how much I love music! Although I really can't sing for anything, I love to listen to pretty much anything and belt it out like I am the best singer in the world.

I really love movies too so maybe that is why I love soundtracks so much! When I listen to a soundtrack I get sent back to the movie, and I also love how it is all different artists.

So.. one of my friends on facebook had done the neatest thing with her iTunes that I thought was really cool. You are supposed to open your itunes and go through the shuffle mode and each song that you land on is supposed to describe different things. I tried it one time myself and it brought back some really hilarious things so I am going to do it again here and see if it is as funny as the last time.

Here's how it works:

1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc.)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button

1. What's my mood like right now?
“Lovers in Japan”- Coldplay

2. How's tomorrow going to be for me?
“Steady as We Go”- Dave Matthews Band

3. What kind of person am I?
“Trynna Find a Way”- Nelly Furtado

4. How can I achieve my highest potential?
“Tremble for My Beloved”- Collective Soul

5. What should I do with my life?
“Hamoa Beach”- Gomez Maybe I am supposed to move to the beach!?

6. Is everything really going to be all right in the end?
“This is Christmas”- Luther Vandross Very interesting! ;)

7. What is my best quality?
“Stolen Away on 55th and 3rd”- Dave Matthews Band Ok I don’t think this is working!

8. How does my social life look?
“Jailhouse Rock”- Elvis Presley Uh-oh!!

9. What's the meaning of life?
“We Will Rock You”- Queen

10. What do people think of me?
“Another Place to Fall”- KT Tunstall

11. Do I make a good lover?
“Beauty on the Fire”- Natalie Imbruglia

12. How crazy am I?
“The Lion Fell in Love With the Lamb”- Twilight Score Soundtrack

13. Will I have a good life in general?
“Big River”- Johnny Cash

14. What's going to happen to me this week?
“See the World”- Gomez

15. Where will I be a year from now?
“More”- Wuthering Heights Soundtrack

16. What is my fondest wish?
“Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo”- Rick Derringer Haha! I’m a rockstar!

17. What is the love of my life doing at this very moment?
“Not that Far From Bethlehem”- Point of Grace He is out of town! But not that far!

18. How did my parents meet?
“You Can Bring Me Flowers”- Ray LaMontagne

19. How will I die?
“Telgram”- Bain Mattox What?

20. What song will be played at my funeral?
“Shine”- Wuthering Heights Soundtrack

21. What will I dream about tonight?
“Fix You”- Coldplay

22. What should I be working on right now?
“Born to Run”- Bruce Springsteen Definitely accurate! Definitely!

23. What did I do last weekend?
“What’s Simple is True”- Jewel

24. Describe me?
“How Far We’ve Come”- Matchbox Twenty What is that supposed to mean?!

25. What does my music player think of me?
“Jesus, He Loves Me”- Edwin McCain I guess my music player loves me too!

Well that was pretty entertaining! Some where right on and others…not so much!

I definitely have a wide variety on my iPod but I also have some favorites! If I had to name my favorite artists/bands right now they would be as follows in no particular order:





Ray LaMontagne- My friend Brittany introduced me to Ray! I love him! His music is great. He is a bit strange himself though.





OneRepublic- I fell in love with this band after someone danced to "Apoligize" on So You Think You Can Dance. They then released the cd about 6 months later and everyone knew about them!







Sister Hazel- My friends and I went to one of their concerts in college and we got to meet them all. They were awesome!








Edwin McCain- There is so much more than "I'll Be"!!! He has had so many great albums.










Coldplay- I know pretty much everybody likes Coldplay. I think that their music is amazing and I love listening to it when I am running!








Jewel- I have loved Jewel ever since "Who Will Save Your Soul" and "You Were Meant for Me" back in the day! I didn't like that one random pop album though. I much prefer the folksy Jewel.

Elvis- An oldie but a goodie! I love all Elvis music, Elvis books, movies, everything! I even named my dog after him!








Bain Mattox- I first saw Bain at the Sister Hazel concert in college and fell in love. With the band and the lead singer who plays an accordian! Something was very cool about that! My friends have since been taken to many little Bain concerts all over! Even Drew accepts my obsession with Bain. :)




Damien Rice- I first heard Damien Rice on the previews for the movie Closer with Julia Roberts and Jude Law which is a TERRIBLE movie but I did love the music. I have since gotten several Damien Rice cds and love everything of his!






Well there you have it! My top ten. :) If you haven't heard of any of these people go check them out! They are all my faves and great musicians.

We're Still Alive!

Hello once again everybody! I am still alive but I just really don't know if I am the blogging type! I am going to try to make my posts a little shorter because that might help me to blog a little bit more often. :)
With Drew out of town lately because of work I have definitely been relying on our dog Denny to keep me safe! Since we only got Denny in May, I haven't gotten to have a dog inside with me during a busy season. Having him here has definitely helped so I'm not scared or lonely but I also get kinda tired of taking him outside every hour too!

Well the other night when it was so cold outside, I decided that I was going to take a warm bubble bath to relax and warm up. Denny was just walking around the house and kept coming in the bathroom where I was. He would scratch at the tub and peek over the edge every once in a while. I was just reading my book and relaxing when the next thing I know I see Denny by the bathroom door sprinting towards the bathtub! Next thing I know, Denny has flew in the tub and bubbles are flying everywhere and my book in falling in the tub! The funniest part was seeing Denny with bubbles all over him and him just standing there looking so proud of himself for his new trick! Needless to say, I haven't taken another bath yet. I am very curious to see what will happen the next time though. He is very inventive so who knows what he will come up with next! I will be sure to let you know whatever shenanigans he gets into next!

A Few of My Favorite Things...

Once again it has been a long time since my last post! Things have been pretty crazy with school and football among other things but I am having a great year so far! I love reading everyone else's favorite things so I thought with this post I would tell you guys some of my favorite things. They are constantly changing but all of these are constantly on my list. So without any further ado and in no particular order....

1. Sour Straws

I absolutely love sour straws! My personal favorite flavor is strawberry but I also like watermelon! Now I do NOT drink through my sour straws like some people do because that makes the straw hard and not nearly as good. Everytime we stop at a gas station on a trip, I am guaranteed to come back with a pack!

2. Trips to Wal-Mart

While most people despise trips to Wally World, this is one of my favorite places to go! I really only like to go though if I have time and money because I definately need both when I visit. I just always feel like I am getting a better deal at Wal-Mart (even though I am probably not). I just love walking down each aisle and remembering things I need as I see them.

3. A cute but comfortable pair of PJs

If anyone ever can't decide what to buy me for a gift, they always go with pajamas. I have so many different pajamas that I have half of them in our guest bedroom! I love pajamas that match because I feel coordinated. I guess it is the librarian in me!

4. Movie Soundtracks

Most people who borrow my car are very dissapointed with my music selection because I LOVE movie soundtracks. I think I just really love movies so much that I love to listen to the songs because it takes me back to the movie! I remember every part as I hear the song. Most of my favorite songs are taken from movie soundtracks. I have all of the movie soundtracks below and would definately recommend them! There are great songs that you would love even without seeing the movies!

5. Board Games (Especially Clue)

When I have children we will definately be having a family game night once a week because board games are so much fun to play!!! One of my best memories as a little girl was a snowstorm where we lost power and my brothers and I played Monopoly like 50 times! My favorite board game is actually Clue. There is a great Clue movie that I really like too! I have about 6 different versions of Clue including Original, Retro Version, Clue FX, and Clue DVD. My best friends know I love Clue and always get me a new version for some birthday or Christmas when they see it. If anyone wants to have a game night, give me a call because it is seriously hard to get Drew to play!

6. Incredibly Sad and Depressing Movies (and books)!

I love a really good cry and movies are my favorite way to do that! I get so wrapped up in the characters and can't stop thinking about these sad and depressing movies for days after watching them. All of my friends joke that if someone dies in a movie that it is destined to be one of my favorites!

7. Ann Taylor LOFT (Not Ann Taylor)



I cannot get enough of Ann Taylor LOFT, especially when they are having a great sale! I love all of their clothes and as they say "We Love Teachers!" so I get special discounts from them as well. Their clothes fit so well and are really cute.

8. Anything Twilight!

I love the book Twilight and I am SO excited about the Twilight movie coming out November 21st! I told you guys about my obsession with Twilight earlier so I won't bore you again but if you haven't checked them out you HAVE to! At least go see the movie when it comes out!

http://www.twilightthemovie.com/

9. Ice Cream!

Ice Cream is my favorite food in the whole world! My husband laughs at me because I can always eat ice cream even after we have had a huge meal. I tell him that it is liquid so there is just more room in my stomach. My two favorite flavors are Banana Pudding and Cookies and Cream. I love banana pudding itself, so when they made it an ice cream, I fell in love!

10. Hanson

Yes, I really did just say Hanson, as in the Mmmbop Hanson! I loved Hanson when they were Mmmbopping it back in the 90s and have liked them ever since. I have only been to one concert when they came in Atlanta while I was in college but I am planning on going when they come to Bham in October. They have totally changed their music style and I love it even more!

Hanson then...

Hanson now...



Well those are a few of my faorite things! Hopefully it won't be so long until I post again!

It's That Time of Year Again.....

I want to first start out my post with a big ROOOOLLLLL TIIIIDDEEE!!! We just came back from one of the best starts to football season that I have ever seen! As I mentioned earlier, Drew and I are HUGE Alabama football fans and go to all of the games that we can. The first game of the season, Alabama vs. Clemson in Atlanta at the George Dome was an awesome game to attend!

After hearing from everyone that we were going to lose since the Clemson game was put on the schedule, I have been nervously excited for this game. Even though it could have ended up badly, it was fun to go a game that was really an exciting game and not to a small team that nobody is quite as excited about like we usually do at the first of a season.

From the first second that Bama ran out on the field, we could tell they were ready to play. Even before the game started you could just feel the excitement in the air. They had completely split the stadium down the middle, one side Orange and one side Crimson. The pregame was amazing because they would show one team's video and then the others and so on. Everyone in the stadium was just so pumped before the game even began.

It was so great to see a team that really connected and stopped Clemson's offense time and time again. Our own offense was doing great and we were very rarely even put in the 3rd and long position. The main scare came at the beginning of the 3rd quarter when Clemson ran the kickoff right back for a TD. The fans were up and screaming but BAMA once again shut them down! It wasn't too long before all you saw were chairbacks on the other side.

We had so much fun and got to spend some time with friends and family which was wonderful! I am happy that we have an extra day this weekend to recouperate...my throat is absolutely killing me! I am going to attach some pictures below of some of our fun weekend. Hopefully this is a sign of how the season is headed. We are certainly ready for it!!!

This is all the guys at our tailgate before the game!

Me and Drew before we left to head to the game.

All of the New Orlean's gang at Baby William's House!

Julio's first TD at Alabama! Hopefully there will be many more!

The final score! Bama 34-Clemson 10

On another note, I also took a few pics of our dogs Denny and Presley playing this week. They crack me up! I don't know if I got any really without their tongues hanging out of their mouths...but here are our babies!