Welcome Fall!

I have this "thing" for pumpkins. Not sure exactly when it started, but I do remember that my mom caught onto this pumpkin obsession, and bought me my very first pumpkin that lights up when plugged in! After a couple of years, the darn thing started eroding, so she ended up buying me another.

Somewhere along the way, IHOP decided to try their hand at pumpkin pancakes. During my single years, some of us would head to IHOP after Sunday night church and have a most healthy dinner. I got hooked on pumpkin pancakes. 

This year, I asked Randy if I could buy some fall decorations. He limited me to $20 and said, If you wait until fall is over, you can get everything 50% off. Well, I showed him and went to HOBBY LOBBY and got everything 40% off in September.  It took me about an hour of wandering through the 4 aisles of fall related items, but I came away with 4 pumpkins, a leaf candle holder decoration, and some decorative leaves that I scattered around the house. I also had a gift card at Bed, Bath, and Beyond and bought 4 leaf placemats. (total I spent $14 something..I showed him :)

I decided that the month of October should be deemed pumpkin month, therefore, I have planned to make a food out of pumpkin each week. Beginning October 2nd, we will have pumpkin pancakes for breakfast, the next week pumpkin bread, the following week pumpkin mousse (for Randy's family who is coming to visit), I haven't decided on the 3rd week yet, and the last week is the grandest of all...I am having a perfectly pumpkin party for the bible study that I am in. We are going to carve pumpkins, and make pumpkin cookies and enjoy the last weekend in October.

WELCOME FALL!!

beach visitors

My mom and grandparents came to visit Randy and I for 5 days. My grandpa informed me before they came that he wanted to go fishing with Randy, and he had to watch the Georgia/Arkansas game on Saturday. What he didn't know was Randy and I don't have cable. We have an antennae that Randy placed on about 15 cinder blocks outside, and that grants us about 5 channels. Unfortunately, ESPN is not one of them.

Our best option was to head to Buffalo Wild Wings, where they have plenty of tv's and football to make any fan happy. My grandma is not exactly a big football fan. In fact, I doubt she's ever watched an entire football game in her life. She's not opposed to it, but it's just not her favorite thing to do for 3.5 hours every Saturday. Being the good sport that she is, she donned her new pink shirt from the outlets in Destin (it's close to red, right?), and we all made our way to BWW.

If you follow the Bulldawgs, you know that our team isn't exactly playing well this year, and I certainly didn't have high hopes of us beating the number 12 team. While, grandma, mom, grandpa, and I watched the game, my Auburn alum husband read through the manual for our boat.

Arkansas scored first (no surprise there), but then it was Georgia's turn. My grandma got so excited about one of the few good plays we had, she knocked over her lemonade!! Thankfully, the staff at BWW are used to this type of excitement, and they headed over quickly to help us clear the yummy sticky liquid from the table.

When he came back to the table with another drink, this is what grandma received:

Yep, another glass but this time it was accompanied by a plastic lid....like the ones they use for kids!
We all had a good time, even though Georgia lost, AGAIN....
Here are a couple more pics from our weekend...

life sans a second half

Randy had to take a 5 week class in Coronado, CA, and we decided we'd rather not be apart for that long, so I flew out there for 18 days. The last night of the trip, we both laid in bed wide awake. He spoke first, and asked me why my breathing was so eradic. I told him I kept thinking about the house and hoping that nothing had happened while I was gone. I even became paranoid about the garage door not opening....

We are fortunate to have a code on the side of our garage, which allows us to leave the house without taking our keys with us. I had planned on utilizing the garage to get into the house when I arrived home from the airport on Tuesday night.

Our friends Mark and Anna graciously picked me up from the airport and drove me home. While Mark got my bags out of the trunk, I walked to the garage and punched in the code...nothing. I did it again...nothing.

I started to get nervous..Mark even tried it a few times...nothing but some flashing lights. Maybe the battery was dead??? I began to somewhat panic..I had left San Diego at 7:20 am and arrived home about 7:30 pm..I wanted in my house!!

I called Randy and told him what was happening and he said to check the truck for a key..thank the Lord that we have a key entry truck (of which I forgot the code a couple of weeks ago and was stuck at WalMart for 2.5 hours). After sifting through about 15 other keys (what they are for, who knows), I found the key savior!!

We found out that something (lightning, maybe?) hit the garage and everything in it was off..sprinklers, timed outdoor lights, garage light, and garage door. What are the odds?? Needless to say, my plants look horrible and the outdoor lights still aren't coming on, but at least I was able to sleep in our new foam bed last night..oh how I missed it.

Hurry home dear!

Hail to the Red and Black

October 9, 1993. It was my dad and brother's birthday, and there was a party scheduled for that afternoon. The whole family was invited, and were planning on attending the celebration. The only one missing was ME.

You see, I had been invited to be a spectator in the Georgia vs. Southern Miss game in Athens, GA that day. I have no idea what came over my mom, but she agreed to let me go with Michael Cheney (my 9th grade crush) and his family to Athens. The night before, I sweated over what to wear. I had never been to a college football game before. Michael let me borrow one of his Georgia t-shirts (which I'm sure was at least 4 sizes too big for me), and I tucked it into some jean shorts and threw on some tennis shoes and was ready to go.

In October in Georgia, it's always cool in the morning and evening, but darn hot in during the day. I remember stopping on the way for boiled peanuts (of course), and parking about a mile from the stadium to tailgate before the game. What an experience. I don't remember the game, but I do recall that my love and appreciation for all things Georgia began that day.

I wave my red pompom to you mom, and say thanks for letting me go to the game that day...and  GOOOO DAWGS, SIC' EM, WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF

A Bit Of Irony..

It's no secret that I dated my share of men before I met my husband. Typically, I would only go out with a man once or twice before it was determined that he was "not the one". By the time I made it to grad school at age 28 1/2 (thank you very much), my mom decided that all men I dated would be called by a number rather than a name. She said that this way, she wouldn't learn who they were and become attached to them.

When I started dating Randy, he became labeled by my mom as the number 303. Randy and I had our first date on Valentine Day of 2009, and before he even got to my door, all the women of the family were referring to him as 303. (The poor guy). Believe me, no one thought it would last past the first date. 

In May of 2009, Randy and I were still dating, and I think my mom was finally believing that a husband could possibly be in my future. She decided that she should have a "meet Randy" get together in Augusta. By get together this means inviting our entire family, plus close friends of mine and hers. I think at one point, we had 20+ people sitting in the living room staring at Randy and I. It was quite an awkward evening, but those lucky people got a first hand look at my future husband.

Obviously he was the one for me, and we were married on February 13, 2010. Mom no longer calls him 303, but rather my favorite son-in-law (special, but he's the only one in the fam). It's nice to have a husband that's no longer a number!

*Randy has been living in Coronado, CA since August 8th for a training that lasts until Sept. 10th. I came to visit for 2.5 weeks, and when I walked up to the door of the hotel, this is what I saw....