I've been tagged...

For some odd reason, Mary Straton thinks i'm a creative blogger, so here goes nothin'... The task is for me to tell you six interesting things about me. Considering I'm not that interesting, should be fun...

1. I am an OBSESSIVE reader. For example...I read the first three books of the Twilight Seris in 7 days -- while working 8 hours a day. I also read the entire Harry Potter series in about five weeks. When I finish a series, I am totally depressed and want to know what is going on in their lives after the book. Sad, I know.

2. I am petrified of flying. I love airports and everything about them because it means I am going somewhere fun, but I HATE the actual flying part. I just cannot wrap my brain around how something that weighs so much and is so bulky can stay suspended in the air.

3. I love to cook. This is something that has developed in the last couple of years. I love to try new recipes...sometimes they work, sometimes not so much. I have invited people over for dinner and ended up having to order pizza for everyone...oops.

4. I cannot cook butter cookies. This is my favorite cookie out there. My mom made them all the time while we were growing up. I have tried to make them MANY times, and it typically ends up as a "sheet o' butter cookie". Very sad.

5. I love 80's movies. I don't think there has ever been an era like that where the movies are fun and you don't have to think about them. I'm not talking about oscar winners here, just good, fun movies. Girls Just Want to Have Fun is my favorite movie of all time. I used to have spend the night birthday parties, and we watched it every year. Some other favs...Goonies, Space Camp, Pretty in Pink, Breakfast Club...there are just too many to name.

6. I think Carter and Stella will forever be considered our first children. This probably surprises no one :)

Well, there you have it. Now it's my turn to tag six people: Jamie , Frankie , Kate , Allison , Courtney , Shelby can't wait to see what ya'll come up with!

Twilight

Well, I've gone and done it and am now addicted to another book series. I swore I wouldn't do it after Harry Potter because I was so depressed when the series ended. I had been told how wonderful the twilight series was, but I just couldn't bring myself to buy a book about teenage vampire romance...seriously?!? I finally bought it on Sunday and finished it (all 450 pages) this morning. It's fantastic! If you haven't read them yet...pick one up!

Halloween and Oxford

Yes...we are evil. Our poor dogs :) For halloween, Stella was a lobster and Carter was "Dogzilla". I thought they were pretty freakin cute though, and they were really good sports.

BJ and I headed over to Oxford for the weekend. We had a great time with Ellen Douglas, Chris, Molly, Stephen, Julie, John, Lindsey, and Trey. We rented a very cool house right off campus and had lots of fun! It was definitely good to see some friends again and of course shop in Oxford. I managed to take only one picture while in Oxford, so I thought it deserved to be posted.
Unfortunately, since we were there, we missed Parker, Frankie, and Mary Wright in Starkvegas!! Thanks so much guys for "housesitting" and of course, more importantly dog sitting! I hope ya'll had fun even though the game was awful.

Mayhem String Band

My step-brother, Jamison, is in a fantastic bluegrass band named Mayhem String Band. I have, of course, heard them many times, but BJ and I went to hear them friday night at Dave's and they were spectacular. They are playing in Oxford this weekend, and I look forward to seeing them again. They were just written up in Bluegrass Now magazine as the "Band to Watch". Here is the link to the article and their website where you can see pictures and listen to their music. Check it out!

The Ghosts of Halloween past..

Well, they've never actually been ghosts but they have been some pretty funny things! BJ and I have always enjoyed halloween and "dressing up" Carter and Stell...sad, I know. My dad is convinced this is why Carter is such a sissy -- I think it all goes back to his first costume...the cowboy. Oh well, the damage is done so I guess we will keep going! I thought I would share pictures of Carter and Stella through the years. They crack me up, mabye they will make you smile. I ran across some fun things while looking for these pics on my computer. First example, when I found Carter's cowboy I also found pictures from Shelby's bachelorette party in New Orleans. Definately some black mail in there somewhere :)


The next year was Stella's first year with us and we dressed the poor thing up as a chicken. Carter, on the other hand, was a wise wizard. While looking for those, I found pics of my Aunt Merrill and two of her grandkids with turkey's on their head...don't ask. That was 2005. Unfortunately in October 2006, I was living in Starkvegas, BJ was still in Birmingham (selling the house), and Carter and Stella were hanging in G'ville. They unfortunately missed out on the joys of halloween that year. But we came back with avengance in 2007.


As you can see, Carter was a big, bad football player and stella was a pig. Hindsight being 20/20, we should have made chunky carter the pig. While finding these, I found a picture of Stella's puppies...aren't they cute!!!


So that brings us to this year. We've ordered some pretty rockin costumes for this year. I'll post pics on halloween...let me know what you think :)

If I had a child...

he/she would totally be a car freshner for halloween!!! Shannon was going to use this for the Bronwynne and Betsy Grey but we couldn't figure out what Joe could be that coordinated. We thought mabye The Crown (remember that...if you don't look it up), but unfortunately there must not be a large market for The Crown halloween costumes. Doesn't that picture just make you smile?

Our own little sweetheart

Well, I wasn't going to say anything because she gets embarrassed so easily, but since they hung a gigantic sign on the KD house I figure she can't get anymore embarrassed! Yes...Jess got SAE sweetheart! Go Jessie! She'll probably kill me for this -- oh well :)

Ole Miss v. Vandy

I feel like the largest football fan in the south right now. I just managed to go to my 4th straight college football game. I even managed to squeeze a jr. high football game in the middle of all that. Wow...i'm glad I actually enjoy it. We went to Oxford this weekend with Laura Merrill and Brandon. We had a great time - minus the actual game of course. I received this picture from BJ today. He seems to think the Ole Miss player was down before the fumble on the two yard line. But, as I told BJ, even if they would have kept the ball....would they have actually scored? oh well. Anyway. If you make it to Oxford anytime soon...you need to eat breakfast at the place called Big Bad Breakfast. Pretty phenomenal...and I do know my breakfast :)

On a totally unrelated subject... do you ever question your, how do I put this...smartness? I really came to question ours on saturday. We were heading over to Oxford and I wasn't feeling to spiffy. So we stopped and BJ was sweet enough to get me a sprite. He was also sweet enough to tell me that a flat sprite is better for you stomach. We then discussed the best way to get a bottled sprite flat. Well obviously the answer is to shake up the sprite to get the carbonation out. That was until I decided to immediately open the sprite after shaking it up. Now every 10 year old knows what happens when you shake a carbonated drink and open the top. We apparently are NOT smarter than a 5th grader because I opened that sucker up and sprite exploded all over the car. Everywhere and on everything. And of course I had no napkins in the car and we were on a two lane high way in the middle of nowhere!!! good times. at least sprite is clear and it didn't stain. but there is nothing worse than being sticky all day. ugh!

Spotted...

a Mississippi State umbrella wandering thru the streets of Oxford on game day. And it wasn't even me carrying it! The only umbrella BJ and I managed to get to Oxford was a gigantic MSU one...oops. Needless to say, we did get one or two funny looks and BJ quickly stashed the umbrella under a table at the tailgate :)

I'm baaack!

Wow...it's been awhile since my last post. Why is it that when you have thing to talk about, you have no time to talk about them....but when you have nothing to say....you have all the time in the world to say it? I guess that's just one of life's little ironies. BJ and I have had a busy, but fun, last couple of weeks. We have truely been supporting the SEC between MSU and Ole Miss games. Katye and Scott came to town for the Louisiana Monroe game and we had a great time hanging out with them! We also were able to eat dinner with some dear friends and celebrate Courtney's birthday! Thanks to Casey for pulling that one together! Last weekend, Baker, Allison, and Maggie McCool came to visit. We had so much fun playing with Maggie and seeing how much she has grown -- of course we enjoyed hanging out with her parents, too! We are so glad you came! I also was finally able to meet Myrt Mills. It was so great to finally meet her since I have been following her little life online :) Kate and Nick...she's beautiful! I must say, the Auburn game was interesting. BJ and I sat with my dad and stepmom. Everyone knows BJ is a large rebel fan, but he did his homework before the game. Adam loaned him a MSU program so he could study up on MSU players. I don't think I have ever seen BJ cheer harder for Mississippi State...because he would cheer for anyone (and I mean anyone) before he would pull for Tommy Tubberville. He actually left the game with 3 minutes left because he could't watch anymore. So sad.

A House Divided

It is finally that time of year...FOOTBALL SEASON!!! yeah!! BJ woke up that morning and the first thing out of his mouth was...College football starts today!! His giddyness was contagious. I love to watch college football, especially SEC football. However, the only thing I don't love is that I am in a mixed marriage. After living in Alabama for a while, I realize the Ole Miss/Mississippi State mixed marriage is much better off than an Alabama/Auburn marriage -- those are tough. I knew couples that wouldn't speak for a week after that game. Regardless, I like to think BJ and I have done a pretty good job of mixing marriage and football season. We can ride to the egg bowl together, but have learned that we cannot sit together. We have season tickets to both schools, so on the day of the egg bowl, the home team spouse sits in the season tickets, and the opposing person goes and finds somewhere else to sit. This arrangement is not because of us, but because we have both almost been beaten up at this game when we sat together. so it's just safer all around if we separate. The rest of the season is not that bad. The schedules this year really benefit our mixed marriage. There are not many home games that are the same. We both enjoy going to the other teams games. Dont't let BJ tell you different! I enjoy going to the grove and hanging out with friends and even going to the game. In the same way, BJ enjoys MSU games and hanging out...I've even caught him cheering on occasion :) I realized how far we have moved ahead when we were in Oxford this weekend. We were at the Ole Miss game and BJ was listening to the State game on his XM...and he didn't even rub it in when state lost...at least not to my face. We had a great time this weekend in Oxford with Courtney and Casey and hanging out with some good friends in the grove. Looking even more forward to the coming weeks and hanging out at MSU!! I refuse to loose faith in my bulldogs already! Hope to see many of you in Starkville (or Oxford) this season!!

The problem with blog stalking...

is that you may burn your lunch. yep...that was supposed to be a grilled cheese. i got so wrapped up in mary wright and maggie's trip to see elmo that i forgot i was cooking lunch until i smelled the smoke. oh well...didn't really need it anyway! the sad part is...that's my second grill cheese to burn this week...i'm blaming this one on allison and frankie though!

The week in review...

First off, I would like to welcome two new bloggers to our little world...the Barretts and the Alves's (i'm not real clear on the apostrophe after an "s" thing). Check out their blogs to see what kind of fun they have been up to!

So, what have BJ and I been up to? Well, all I can say is....They're baaaaack!!! Students, that is. We both spend all day transfering birth control, and other important medications, back to Starkvegas. In the past week I have spoken to pharmacists in Vail, New York, Florida, and Washington DC...just to name a few places. I am very jealous of the pharmacist in vail, colorodo by the way. Anyway, our sleepy little town is now busting at the seams with students. Interesting fact...MSU was the only college in the state with an increase in students this year. Where my drive to work used to take 10 minutes from door to door, it now takes 25 minutes. Parking on campus is very hard to come by! I love my job though, so I am not complaining :)

On another note, I'm so sad the Olympics are over. I have been a little bit obsessed this go round! There were so many great moments with Michael Phelps, the mens and womens gymnastics, the freakin jamaican sprinters (with a last name like Bolt, he was destined to be a sprinter I guess), and so many other things (like Matt and Al's rhythmic gymnastics duet - catch it on youtube if you missed it). I asked BJ the other night what I was going to do when the olympics were over, and he answered "go back to watching the weather channel." I didn't realize I had turned into my father-in-law...hanging out watching the weather channel. boy...i need a hobby or a life, one. I'm ready for my normal TV shows to be back on with new episodes.

We had a family dinner last night at our house. I have 3 of my 5 siblings in Starkville now, so BJ and I are hosting Sunday dinners every couple of weeks so we can all get together. Last nights menu was excellent....Spinich Ravioli Lasagna (yummy!!!), green-bean bundles, rolls, and home-made apple pie with a homemade caramel sauce. I told the kiddos not to expect that much next time. Jessica, John Michael, Graham, and Kate came over -- we missed you Laura Merrill and Jameson!!! We had a great time laughing at Kate's first week of college...she went out every night and still managed to make ALL her classes...yay! BJ and I are looking forward to this great tradition!

So, that is what we have been up to. I know it was a long post, but I haven't done one in a while. Looking so forward to football season and being able to see people in Starkville! Let me know if you are coming!!

You know there's a problem when...

Last night, BJ and I were in bed watching the olympics, and Carter and Stella were lying on the foot of the bed. We don't have an overhead fan, but we have a stand-up fan by the foot of the bed. Well, we were lying there and all of a sudden realized there were clumps (not strands) of dog hair floating in the air being flown around by the fan. How sad/disgusting is that!! Stella has been loosing hair recently in chunks, but I've never seen anything like that! eww!!

I'm such a procrastinator

Happy birthday Adam (five days late...oops)! We went to Anthony's Friday night to celebrate Adam's birthday. We had a great time! Lauren drove all six of us...which was a good thing considering all the wine bottles on the table. As you can see by her pic, Lauren is looking great with only five weeks to go. Courtney and Casey's pic wouln't have been so close, but my 12-year old husband added a lovely hand gesture that is not suitable for this family-oriented blog. Adam...hope you have a great year!!!!

On Saturday, BJ and I invited Karis and Ansley














Wardlaw over for a couple of hours. They are 4 and 3 years old and have a brand new baby sister. We thought they would enjoy a couple of hours swimming and playing. Let me start by saying they were perfect angels! We road the "big go-cart" (i.e. golf cart) to the club and "swam" for about an hour. Mind you, this involved applying sunscreen and blowing up floaties. I was in charge of sunscreen, BJ the floaties. We managed to accomplish those tasks flawlessly (at least as far as i know...Kerri hasn't said they are sunburned). After we had been in the pool about 15 minutes, everyone had to go potty...i forget how difficult a wet one-piece can be. We managed that feat no problem and continued swimming. Then they decided to go to our house to play on our playground -- a nice, wooden swingset came with our house. So we played for a few minutes then time to play with the dogs. Carter and Stella were great! Karis and Ansley were so sweet with them, telling them where to walk and what to do. Although, Ansley was a little disturbed when carter stopped to go potty. We had a great time though and look forward to the next one. Anyone else wants to loan out their kids for a day...call us :)

Sending Stella over the edge

As most of you know, we have two shelties that we just adore. Our little girl is Stella. She is an odd one though. We can't quite put our finger on it, but she is either smoking pot when we are not around or mabye she has Asperger's Syndrome (which I learned all about from watching America's Next Top Model). We'll just say she's out there. Anyway, this week has been a rough one on our little Stella. We are getting a new roof. They start banging on that roof at about 6:15 every morning...fun. Well, Stella can't quite figure out where the noise is coming from, so she just barks like a maniac and hides under the furniture. So this has been going on for about a week. Well, then Tuesday morning around 1am, we realize our AC has gone out. The thermostat in our house is registering about 88 degrees. Bad for BJ and I, really bad for thick, long haired dogs. So she doesn't sleep at all after that. The hammering starts up about 6:15 again, and let me tell you, we were all in a fabulous mood. So BJ goes to let the dogs out, which we do every morning without a leash, and they just hang out in the yard and do their buisness. Well, that morning BJ steps outside (in his robe) lets the dogs out and Stella shoots out of the house, heads straight for the golf course, and runs down the 18th fairway headed for the clubhouse. BJ is screaming at her to come back, but she is done with it...she has had her fill! Just take a moment to imagine BJ chasing Stella on a golf course in his robe. Anticlimatic ending...he catches her down the fairway and carries her all the way back to the house where she proceeds to get under the bed and hide. Kinda made me giggle, so I thought I would share :)

Happy Birthday Brandon!

Brandon and Laura Merrill made a big trip to Starkville last night for Brandon's birthday. We (plus Jessica) went to eat at Restaurant Tyler for dinner (yummy!). We had so much fun - as proven by the picture. By the looks of them you would think it was late night...but no, it was only 7 o'clock! Ya'll come back soon to visit soon! I haven't laughed that much in a while :)

San Francisco...it's a trip, not a vacation

Well, I love San Francisco! It is definately not somewhere to go to relax though...well, unless you are hanging out in the napa/sonoma vallies. We walked up and down hills (small mountains actually) all day. We went for several days with BJ's roommates from school. Josh and his wife Dawn live in Birmingham, and Jason and his new fiance Amanda (he proposed on the trip) live in Southaven. I first have to thank Jason and Amanda because they booked everything and did and amazing job! The hotel we stayed in was beautiful. They upgraded our room to these gigantic rooms overlooking the bay and Alcatraz. The view was fantastic. They also got us a deal where breakfast was included. The largest, most fantastic buffet i have ever seen. They even made lobster omelets. For a girl who LOVES breakfast food, I was in heaven :) I digress... The six of us walked all over that city (thank goodness for that breakfast) and became experts at riding the trolley. We did all the touristy things...Lombard Street, Fisherman's Warf, Union Square, and Ghiradelli Square where I had the best hot fudge, banana sundae on the planet. We ate at some very cool restaurants we found. We had the best time, but were constantly on the move.

Our first full day there, we headed over to Berkley to visit the campus of UC Berkley. We went there for two reasons (both BJ's). The first was to visit the most liberal place on the planet and see the site of all those rallies in the sixties and seventies. The second was to see the football stadium, because it is supposed to be really pretty (that is, if a stadium can actually be pretty). Well the first objective was pretty easy. The second, however, proved to be a problem. First of all, the stadium is on the opposite side of campus from the subway station. So we walked uphill, in the sun to get there. We knew we were almost there, rounded the corner, and what do we see? the stadium surrounded by police. Why are they there? because of all the hippies hanging in the oak trees surrounding the stadium (literally). So we didn't get to see the inside of the stadium, but we did get to see a hippie protest (which was probably more interesting in the long run). (FYI - the hippies had been living in those trees for several months in protest of them being cut down). That night we went to Alcatraz. It was probably our favorite thing on the trip (tough call between that and napa). We did the night cruise - absolutely beautiful - and hung out on the island for about two hours. It is really interesting stuff. We did however miss our ferry back to the main land and had to hang out in the dark, on an old prison island until the last ferry came to pick us up...kinda spooky. If you ever make it so San Francisco...Alcatraz is the one thing you MUST do! The next day we went to Napa Valley. I really didn't know what to expect, or how BJ and I would enjoy it (him being a devout beer drinker). It was so much fun. We went with a tour group of 40 people and went to four different wineries. The picture of BJ and I is at the first stop...there will be no more pictures of me posted from later stops, because apparently the wine took a good toll on my looks that day (ie...i could have cared less what i looked like by stops three and four). V. Sattui is the first winery we went to, and it was our favorite of the day. If you are touring Napa on your own, you must stop in this winery. They do not distribute their wines, you can only by them at the winery. They also have an excellent restaurant there where you can have a picnic lunch (that is what we did!). After tasting six (and of course downing all six of them) different wines, BJ and I were ready to go. We then proceeded to the next three wineries: Domain Chandon, Andretti Wineries, and Rutherford Ranch. All very much fun. We then started on what our tour guide called "Napping thru Napa" when we headed to our ferry for the ride home. "Napping thru Napa" was a great way to prepare for the night ahead...you can always use a good power nap. That night we went to a San Francisco Giant's baseball game. It was freezing (at least for July) - it was about 50 degrees in the ball park plus a fierce wind off the bay. AT&T park is by far the nicest baseball park I have ever been to. The food was fabulous (as in crab cake sandwhiches and clam chowder in fresh sourdough bread bowls....and more ghiradelli chocolates). The stadium is beautiful, too. We were sitting there and all of a sudden a huge sail boat went floating by. The game was a total loss because the poor Giants were pummeled by the Brewers. We had a great time though! So that is our trip in a nutshell. I will add some pictures here of some sights...but pictures really don't do it justice :) The one picture of just scenery is from our bedroom window.

My next vacation....

I went to see Mamma Mia last night with Lauren and Courtney and I loved it! I highly recommend it (as long as you like musicals). Regardless, the scenery is breathtaking. I discovered today they filmed in Scopelos, Greece. I am heading there as soon as my bank account will let me! Since I have now been home from vacation a total of 4 days, I have decided this is my dream vacation -- island hopping thru Greece. Any takers?

I finally did it....

well here goes nothing...

we (meaning I) finally decided to join the blogging world. not sure why...mabye because i'm not real busy now. anyway, it will just be my little way of keeping up with everyone and letting you all know what we have been up to.

bj and i have had a pretty good summer around starkvegas. things really slow down here this time of year. it's so nice!!! it is great to have a break before football season starts. we are entertained daily by carter and stella....the cutest and sweetes two shelties on the planet. i know they are just dogs, but bj and i can't imagine life without them right now :)

this summer has also been good to us because we have had some pretty great neighbors move onto sandwedge! yay the marconi's have arrived! we are so glad to have adam and lauren (and of course kingston) in the cul-de-sac. we can't wait for ty to get here, too! i'm pretty sure adam and bj are playing as much golf as possible prior to the birth.

we just had a wonderful vacation to san francisco! i will post pictures in a few days once i finally get the hang of this program. any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!!! i will say in advance, don't expect too much from me with this. our lives are not that exciting, but i thought it would be a cool place to ramble :) anyway...here we are...