Nap Time

It's Daddy/Doggy nap time this afternoon!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

I hope that everyone is having a wonderful holiday season!!! Ours was fantastic!

Christmas Eve Eve was my birthday pizza night at the bar. We had the best time with our friends! I think everyone was so relaxed b/c most of us had the rest of the week off for the holiday!

Christmas Eve started out at the coffee shop talking with friends about Christmas plans. Once my parents got in town, we headed to Birmingham for my mom's family Christmas Extravaganza! Philip's parents met us there and we had a great time! This was the second year that Bob & JoAnne joined the madness and I think (?) they had a good time:)

Christmas morning (a.k.a. my birthday!) we woke up and Philip cooked us an awesome breakfast. Then we opened gifts. I make everyone sit in a circle and open presents one at a time. I only get to open presents once a year so I try to make it last as long as possible! So two hours later, we were finally finished with presents. We got some great gifts this year. I can honestly say that we were so spoiled by our parents! It is so fun waking up on Christmas morning and having our parents there! Brian & Ellen came down from Atlanta and we had a great dinner/birthday celebration. After dinner, it was down to Eigth & Rail for a little bit!

Friday afternoon, me & Philip headed to Birmingham for my annual birthday dinner with cousin Stephen. We went to Ocean and it was amazing, as usual. This year it was me, Philip, Stephen (cuz), Evelyn (aunt), Tim (cuz), Deborah (cuz), Sarah (cuz), Kati (cuz), Mike (Kati's boyfriend), Jenn & Sara. After dinner we headed to the Wine Loft downtown for some more visiting. It was so much fun and I am so greatful to have a great family that I am so close with! I wish I could say I have some pics from that night but I left my new digital camera that I got for Christmas at Jenn's house, bummer!

The rest of the weekend was pretty relaxing. Sadly, it is no longer Christmas at the Hake house. All the decorations were put away on Sunday, waiting patiently for next year!!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful New Years!!!!

Tag, I'm It!

This picture is from the AU/Vandy game this year in Nashville. My sweet Sara has been waiting 4 years for Auburn & Vandy to play each other and this year was finally her chance! We had the best time tailgating that day with Sara, Logan, Andrea, Casey & a ton of Sara's friends from Nashville!!! Now I tag Brooke, Malone, Volree & Jerry!

The object of the picture tag is to:

1) Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer

2) Select the 4th picture in the folder

3) Explain the picture

4) Tag 4 people to do the same

Kea, sorry it took me so long to post my "tag," it's been a busy week!!

Tacky Chrismas!

Thanks to Kate & Revel for hosting the Tacky Christmas party last night! It was so much fun! The good ole puff paint sweatshirts made their 4th appearance and this year I added some shoes to the ensemble!

He has it so rough....

Charlie after a day of playing on the beach!

My brain has gone to mush!

Charlie riding in the basket!

Kiss the cooks!

Thanksgiving dinner in a box! With a couple additions from JoAnne & Marilyn!

"The Bike Gang"

After spending 6 days in Seagrove, Fl for Thanksgiving, my brain has officially gone to mush! We had the best time with our parents doing, well, nothing! We had a great house and spent most of our time there just sitting on the porch! Everyone (but me) had a bike and rode down 30A to Seaside & Rosemary Beach at least once a day. I held the fort down, drank wine and finished the second Twilight book! We ate at the Red Bar and it was delicious, of course!!!! Charlie LOVED the beach and wore himself out everytime we took him out there. His most favorite thing to do was chase those tiny little birds up and down the beach. He also enjoyed eating the sand- not sure why????

I think this may become a Riley/Hake tradition! Here are a few pics. More to come later.

Ok, fine...Edward Cullen can definitely "bite me"

Twilight was actually pretty good. I'm always a little weary when they turn a book in to a movie but they did a good job with this one!!! They've hooked me and I'll definitely be waiting for the second movie to come out.

As far as the whole experience of the theater goes there are a few things:
1. I was not wearing a Twilight t-shirt
2. The 4 of us were the oldest people in there that were not with our kids
3. There was a lot of screaming & clapping whenever "Edward" had a scene in the movie. When they kissed, holy crap...
4. Thank goodness Lyndsay brought some wine!!!

I will I didn't think Robert Pattinson (Edward) was all that cute when I saw him on TV interviews. But in the movie, wow...hotness!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas!!!

I have decorated the house for Christmas!!! I'm so excited about it! Mom & dad came up on Saturday and she helped me so much since I've only got one good leg! Philip was the "gofer"- going up & down to the basement to get the boxes. Dad, well...he kept us informed on the football scores:) I'll put some pics up once I get a topper for the tree. That's the one thing I don't have yet!

I hope everyone has a safe, wonderful Thanksgiving! Enjoy a few days off and spend some time with the ones you love:0) We're heading to Seagrove today after work to spend the holiday with our parents. We'll be there until Sunday. I'm so excited about doing nothing for a few days!!!! I'm pretty sure Philip is too! I've heard the outlets in Destin are having really good sales right now so maybe I can get some of my Christmas shopping done while I'm there.

Gobble Gobble everybody!

Bite Me???

In a moment of weakness, or maybe too many pain pills, I agreed to go with some friends to see Twilight tonight. Apparently, this is like the Beatles to tweens worldwide. I don't quite get it but maybe I will once I have seen the movie & finish the first book. I started reading the first one on wednesday. Lyndsay has all 4 and it will save me from having to buy books for the beach next week. It's good but I'm not sure that I would be yelling "Bite me!" like people have been doing at the movie premiers.

Anyways, I will report back on the experience. We have pre-purchased our tickets and are still getting there an hour before the movie starts. Hopefully someone has some wine hidden in their purse!!!

Wonderful visit from an old friend

My sweet Dallas!

Last night, one of my oldest friends came by to visit. Dallas and I have known each other since I started going to church at Dawson in the 4th grade! Oh yeah, and we he was my boyfriend in 9th grade:) He was in Auburn for the night visiting his sister and stopped by to see us. It was so great catching up with him! We don't get to see each other very much because he lives in Lake Tahoe in the winter working on the avalanche team and in the summer, he's either fighting fires in California or in Alaska doing some sort of research on dirt. It was so great to see him! Love ya big-D!

A Win...for one of us at least!

Tailgating with Tony & Britney!
I'm such a trooper! My big, ole, swollen leg is somewhere underneath the blanket.

We've had a great weekend! Tony & Britney came down Friday night for the Auburn/Georgia game. I wasn't sure how the knee would do but it turned out fine. We got a parking spot really close to the stadium and I was able to get a seat in the stadium without having to climb any stairs!

After the game, we tailgated for a little while until it got unbearably cold. We were especially excited to see Justin, one of Philip's roomies from UGA, and his wife, Rebecca!!! A bit congrats to them, they've got a baby on the way!

Then we headed back to the house to watch the Bama game. Brian (philip's bro) came down and some of his college buddies that live in Montgomery came over. It was fun hanging out with them like the old days on Gillon Drive.

Philip is a happy camper today. It's 3 in a row for his Hairy Dawgs!

I made it!

I made it through surgery yesterday! The doc said everything went well. The MCL was actually not torn as bad as he thought but the ACL was torn worse than he thought. So he fixed the ACL and we spent the night in the hospital. I didn't love it but I will say it could have been much worse. The best part of the day is when Jamie (one of my besties!) brought me a chocolate milk shake from Chick-Fil-A. It was so delish! Dennis was nice enough to come "baby sit" Charlie for us last night while we were gone. We really are blessed to have the most awesome neighbors & friends!

I got home early this morning and made a trip to the coffee shop. Before I made the trek up the stairs, we went to CVS to get my scripts filled and then the sweet girls downstairs at the hair salon were nice enough to wash my hair. I can't take a shower until tomorrow, when I get the bandages off, so it's bird baths for Mer until then! Lovely....

Surgery Tomorrow!

Well, I kinda got fed up with the whole "let's wait" attitude and decided I wanted to have my surgery asap. Luckily, I have the nicest doctor on the planet and he was very accommodating to my request when Philip saw him this morning at the hospital. I'll try to update as soon as I can since we won't know if they are going to have to fix the ACL until they get in there tomorrow. The doc said he likes to keep his patients over night but I am going to try to avoid that! So hopefully I'll be home some time tomorrow afternoon, keep your fingers crossed!

Now, I'm trying to decide what delicious meal Philip is going to buy me tonight since I can't eat anything tomorrow morning:(

Oh, and in case you were wondering, the doc said I should still be able to make it to the AU/UGA game this weekend:) Phew!

Halloween Pics...a week later

Dennis' 40th Birthday cake!!
The Crippled Witch & Joe the Plumber
The Lady from the movie "The Birds" and her special effects (that's Hiro behind her with a few more birds)

Here are some pics from our little Halloween gathering last Friday. We had a great time & made it down to the bar for a little bit.

Saturday was a nice, lazy day around the house. Saturday night me, Philip, Mary P, Dennis, Hir0 & Lyndsay all crammed in the truck and headed up to Waverly to see Southern Culture on the Skids. I have heard the name before but had never seen them. We had so much fun! We took some appetizers (mainly what was left over from Friday night), wine and danced the night away! They had a few bonfires to help keep us warm and Dennis got some "southern culture" you usually don't see in San Diego!

Sunday, downtown Opelika had their Christmas open house. All the stores had their windows decorated for Christmas and were open for the afternoon so everyone could do some Christmas shopping. It was so fun! I got so excited about it, I decorated our balcony & put the wreaths on our windows so we would have some decorations up too. I found a TON of things that I want to buy for Christmas decor!

The Hakes are coming tomorrow for the weekend for some fun & football. And probably a wine tasting too! :)

No surgery....this week....

I won't have my knee scoped this week. I still have a boo-boo right where he would need to make an incision and doing that could cause an infection.

Sooooo....I got back to him next Tuesday and he's going to check the knee again and my boo-boo. I'll probably have the scope the week before Thanksgiving so I can go to the UGA game next weekend. I have priorities you know:) Plus, we're going to the beach for Thanksgiving so if I've got to be couped up recovering, what better place to be than the beach!

Update

I've been going to physical therapy this week. It seems to be helping and I can tell when I leave that I have a lot more range-of-motion in my knee. But it's still feels really tight, like one of those extra large rubberbands. I went back to work Monday and it's been fine. I just hobble around the office with my squeaky leg. One of my co-workers says I remind her of Forrest Gump b/c my brace makes so much noise sometimes. ha ha

Philip ran in to my doctor this morning at the hospital. He was giving him an update on my progess and telling Dr. Sheils that I am very eager to get better or at least have a better idea of my recovery time. So instead of waiting to go back to him next Friday, I'm going to go Monday afternoon and he'll check me out. If he thinks it needs to be scoped, which he apparently does, that will probably happen Tuesday or Thursday. So I might miss the AU/TN-Martin game next weekend but Dr. Sheils assured Philip I would be able to make it to the Georgia game. Soooo....that's where we're at for now. I'm much happier going back to him on Monday rather than having to wait until next Friday. I'm ready to get this show on the road!!

Tonight we are having a little Halloween get-together with our neighborhood peeps at our house. None of us wanted to drive anywhere tonight so we're just going to stay close to home. Maybe (probably) end up at the bar eventually at some point. I bought us a Haunted Gingerbread House kit to play with and Lyndsay is going to bring some cheesy Halloween movies & Boo-opoly. Hopefully I'll have some pictures to post!!

Happy Howl-o-ween!

Charlie the Rooster!

Tonight was the Howl-o-ween parade in downtown Opelika. I didn't sign Charlie up for the parade but I did put him in his costume and we went down to see all his friends.

The Verdict....

So I went to the doctor today. I have a torn MCL, partially torn ACL and a torn meniscus. For now he wants me to do some intense physical therapy for 2 weeks. Then I will go back and he will evaluate my progress. If it doesn't seem like my ACL is getting any better, he will do a scope to see how much damage there is. If it is over 50% torn he will fix it, if it is under 50% torn, he won't. I got a differnent brace today that allows me to bend my knee which is a lot better than the stabilizing brace I've been wearing. I don't have to walk around like I have a peg leg anymore.

My main question was when can I run again??? I told him that we had already signed up for the Seaside Half Marathon on March 1st. He said I should be able to run it. Depending on how physical therapy goes & if I don't have to have surgery, I might be able to start running again in about 4 weeks. It really sounds like a long time to me but I guess it could be a lot worse. That's my philosophy, at least.

Have a great weekend!

Update

Went to get my MRI this morning. I won't have any results until I go see the doctor tomorrow afternoon. I also got my tooth filed down. Hooray! That's really been annoying me. I woke up with more soreness this morning. Nothing too terrible but it definitely doesn't feel great. I'll update tomorrow after I get back from the doctor.

War Eagle!

On the Tracks & On the road....

Philip, me, Beth & Tyler- Before the fun began
Hmmmm....no fun at all....
Tiger Woods...oh wait, that's just Philip

We had one of the funnest weekends last weekend. Friday night was On the Tracks. A food & wine festival they have on our street. It was so fun! Beth & Tyler came down from Atlanta to join in the festivities. Most of the shops on Railroad Ave (0ur street) and 8th participate as "wine stops." They each will serve a different wine or 2 and some sort of appetizer. There were also some local restaurants that brought food. You could buy a plate for about $2-3 dollars. I had something from Amsterdam, Arricia and one other place I can't remember. We had a blast and ended the night at the bar, of course! There was one casualty Friday night. One of Richard's (bar owner) coffee tables got broken. I'll let you decide the culprit... :)

Saturday we got up and played golf. Well, Beth & I only lasted the first 9 holes:) Then we left the boys and got pedi's! After that we rested and ate a delicious dinner at Zazu. Sunday, Philip cooked us a big breakfast and they headed back to the ATL. It was nice having friends in town on a non-football weekend. We had a great time and I hope they did too!!!

On a more serious note- Last night I was running after work and was struck by a vehicle while crossing at a crosswalk. I am VERY lucky that the car was not going very fast and so far, besides many scrapes and bruises, I think the only "real" damage will be to some ligaments in my left knee. From what I have been told, I put a mean dent in the hood of the girl's car. I probably put a "dent" in the pavement too! I spent a few hours in the ER last night getting some x-rays and a CT scan (a result of my hubbie working for a neurosurgeon). Today I went to an orthopedic doctor and he gave me one of those thigh-to-ankle braces and I have an MRI tomorrow. He said there is probably some ligament damage but we won't know until Friday when we get the results. I also chipped a tooth a little bit. Not too big a deal, but I can feel it with my tongue and it's driving me CRAZY! Maybe I can get that fixed tomorrow too!

Otherwise, I was not too sore today. That is something I was very nervous about last night. We'll see if I am as lucky tomorrow!

However, the whole point of this story is to all my running buddies out there. Me & Kinsey were talking this morning about those ID braclets you can buy (they advertise them in Runner's World). I always thought "hmmm...that would probably be a good idea" but never acted on it. Well let me tell you that I (and hopefully Kinsey too) will be ordering one ASAP. Luckily I never lost conciousness, but if I had, how would they have known who to call??? My name??? DOB??? People always say "you don't take your cell phone??" No, I don't. Even if I had, it probably would have been smashed in to a million pieces so that wouldn't have done much good.

So to all my running buddies out there, get an ID bracelet. I know they are dorky but you never know when you might need one! And BE CAREFUL running! We are training for a half marathon so I'm hoping I can be back running soon! But I have a feeling I will be much more aware of my surroundings!

Also, thanks to everyone for their thoughts & prayers so far. I definitely think I had a guardian angel watching over me yesterday!

I can't even remember the last time...

I filled up the ole Honder for under $40 yesterday!! Not sure how long these gas prices will last but it sure it nice for now!

Weekend Update

Cousins!! (me & Darren)
Philip, me, Andrea & Casey
Me & Alana at the game
It was a very nice weekend! Friday night was wine tasting & Mexican, just as we had planned. With a short stop at the Rail before heading to bed early.

Saturday we had a great time tailgating! It was cloudy & cool out. Philip actually had to run back home to get us more layers! Not much to say about the game so I won't even waste my time. BOOO!

Sunday was great! Philip cooked us a great breakfast. The whole nine yards- eggs, bacon, grits, biscuits. It was delish! It was a dreary day but I have been wanting to spruce up our porch a little so we headed to Lowe's and mom helped us pick out some flowers to put in planters we had. It looks great! It's amazing how a few flowers will make a "room" seem so much homier! (is that a word????) After we finished with that, Philip and I went for our long run and then we came home and had a nice family dinner. It was seriously one of the most relaxing weekend either of us have had in a while!

Here are some pics from Saturday.

Thanks Mom & Dad!

Mom & dad brought us this table when they came up this weekend for the game. It was white so mom spray painted it brown for me! We'd been wanting to get a little table for the porch so we could sit out there and have dinner. Tonight we had our first meal at the table!

Also, a shoutout to dad- he re-wired a lamp for us. Charlie had gotten a hold of the cord one day (luckily the lamp wasn't plugged in) and chewed about half the cord & plug. How that was a "tasty treat" for him I have no idea but never-the-less, dad fixed it! Hooray!

Nashville and beyond

Hoover Girls in Nashville- Andrea, me & Sara (officially an architect!)
Happy 30th Birthday Lyndsay!
Me & Lyndsay

Our weekend in Nashville was a blast! We had a great time with Sara (& meeting her new beau) and Andrea & Casey. It had been a while since we had visited Nashville and it did not disappoint! Friday night we went to S.A.T.C.O., a taco place, and to a bar for a little bit. We were all pretty tired and wanted to rest up for Saturday. Saturday we got up and headed out to tailgate. We got a great spot right up from the stadium (thanks to the early morning efforts of Philip and Casey!).

The game was awful but oh well! Sunday we had breakfast and headed home. We of course made a pit stop in Birmingham and finally made it back to Auburn about 4:30! Then, yes...off to Lyndsay's for Sunday Funday & the weekly dose of True Blood. That damn show....the acting is terrible but at the end of every episode, something crazy happens the last minute and I'm left wondering "what the heck!"

This week has been fun, busy, relaxing- all at the same time. A few nights at home, a few out with friends. Tuesday was Tap Night! This week all the high school girls were in attendance and let me tell you, it was a hoot! I'm sure they were wondering who in the hell the old girl with the goofy outfit was but I don't care. I had a great time. Then I met up with everyone at the Rail for Burgers & Beer night.

Thursday was Lyndsay's 30th birthday so about 12 of us headed up to Waverly for dinner at the Yellowhammer. We were pretty excited b/c that's one place we hadn't eaten at yet. The food was ok. The apps & desert were fab but I definitely ordered the wrong entree. My fault. I think we will try to get it another shot!

Tonight will be pretty low key since we had our "friday night" on Thursday. I think we'll head down to Brass Brassiere for the wine tasting then either get Mexican or pizza and go to bed early. One thing about Yellowhammer is it can definitely leave you broke-as-a-joke until payday! It was worth it though, we had a great time helping Lyndsay celebrate the big 3-0!

Tomorrow is another day of tailgating and hopefully watching Auburn win despite a tumultuous week! I don't think I'll hold my breath though.....

Oh, and a shoutout to my girl Sara- she found out this week that she passed all her certification tests and is now officially an architect! Way to go friend! We're very proud of you!

On the road agan...

We're off to Nashville tomorrow afternoon for the Auburn/Vandy game and to hang out with Sara for the weekend. I'm really excited! It's been a while since we've been up there. Hopefully I will remember to take some pics while we're there. One thing that is hard to believe is that we had to pay OVER regular price for our tickets! I can't remember the last time I payed over about $20 for both tickets. Apparently, tickets start at $100 each on Ebay and Craig's List. That is nuts! I hope AU can pull off a big win. Especially since GameDay is supposed to be there. I don't want stupid Lee Corso to be right twice!

War Damn Eagle!!!

I LOVED it!

I had my tap class last night and i LOVED it! There is another girl in the class that is around my age so I don't feel like a total nerd. Last night's class was pretty empty because there was some pagent that all the high school girls were at so there was just us 2 "older" girls there. We did some bar work and then worked on a combination. I am definitely hooked! I am for sure going to have to invest in some new tap shoes though. My oldie goldies are finally going to have to be retired. Maybe I'll have them bronzed! Ha Ha! I also might need to invest in some "dance attire." Some awesome leotards with leg warmers....what do ya think?

Good Ole....Rocky Bottom!

We such a fun weekend! Tony & Britney came in to town for the game.
Friday night was dinner at Cafe 123 (so good it was ridiculous!) then off to the Rail.
Saturday was tailgating and football all day....and I mean ALL day. Philip and Tony went down to the bar when we got home and Philip helped some kid that tried to jump on the train (smart!).
Sunday was Niffer's for lunch- we got it for free b/c they forgot to put our order in!- and then lounging and resting all day.
Sunday night there was another installment of Sunday Funday at Hiro & Lynday's. The most awesome chicken and more great episodes of True Blood.

Tap Report- Part Deux...

Will be postponed. I forgot that we have a wine tasting dinner tonight so I won't be able to make a fool out of myself until next Tuesday.

L-S-Who????

Oh yeah, the team that beat us in the final minute of the game the past 2 years! What a bummer!

Otherwise, we had a great weekend. Mom & dad were in town for the game. Friday night we hung out on the porch, ate pizza and went to the bar for a little while. Saturday we woke up bright & early ready for a great day on The Plains. We couldn't have asked for a better day- not a cloud in the sky & perfect temperatures. It really felt like football season! We even ventured away from our tailgate spot and got to see some friends. Sunday was about as good as it gets on a fall day. Went to the coffee shop with mom & dad and Andrea & Casey- they had stopped by on their way home to see the new place. Philip had to go to the hospital for a little bit so I sat on the porch, listened to music and read a book with Charlie's head on my leg. Then we went for a run around the neighborhood to explore some new routes. We ran about half the time & walked the other half just b/c it was such a nice day, neither of us were in a hurry to get back home. Beth & Tyler stopped by to see the place in their way home. Last night we headed to Hiro & Lyndsays for pizza (I think we are keeping Papa John's in business), wine & some delicious Halloween treats that Lyndsay had made. We watched this new show in HBO called True Blood. It's about vampires, don't ask....anyways, it was interesting show. Terrible acting but we watched 2 episodes so I guess it had our attention!

We're looking forward to a low key week. Philip isn't on call at all- wahoo! Hopefully we'll be able to rest up for another fun football weekend down here in God's Country. We can't wait for Tony & Britney to get here on Friday!

Is it bad that Monday isn't even over and I'm already wanting it to be Friday??

Ratta-Tap-Tap....Report

So here's the report...
1) there was no a/c in the building (yikes!)
2) 3 people in the class
3) i was a little rusty and my shoes definitely need to be replaced (i think i've had them since '96 or '97)

The class was a lot of fun, just went a little slower than I'm used to. I'm going to the level 4 class on tuesday. I feel 100% certain I am going to look like a fool! But I think I'm up for the challenge. Full report on Wednesday.

Ratta-Tap-Tap

I have my first tap class tonight! Most of you know that I took "adult tap" for a few years in Bham but I haven't been able to find a place in Auburn/Opelika that has classes. I finally found one and it's right by my house! I told the owner that while I am no "daning queen", I might poke my eyes out if we learned shuffle ball change for an hour. She said I might be too advanced for the adult class so I might want to come to the Level 4 class with the high school seniors on Tuesday. Ummm...okaayyy... She said there was another girl that was around my age that was in the Level 4 class. Oh goodie, I thought, I won't be the only loser! We'll see how that class goes. I'll probably end up making a total arse out of myself! I'll give a report tomorrow on how the adult class goes. Hopefully my eyeballs will still be in tact:)

Calm Before the Storm

We had a nice relaxing weekend at home! It was very nice being able to do a whole lot of nothing since next weekend is going to be crazy with the LSU Bengal Tigers coming to town!! And let me tell you, they are all coming. Every hotel in the Auburn/Opelika area is booked! So we took advantage the weekend and tried to relax as much as we could. Friday night we hung out with some friends on our porch, drank wine and ate pizza! We made it down to the Rail for a little while. The crowd was great and so was the band!

Saturday I went in to Auburn with Lindsey and we shopped around for a little while. We had a great time! I got home just in time for the second half of the Georgia game but then fell asleep on the couch! We started watching the Auburn game but it was so boring that we decided to go down to the bar for a little while.

Sunday, dad had to drop mom off to meet up with her friends for their Fripp Island trip. So after he did that he met us down at the coffee shop for some breakfast. Then we hit up our Sunday usuals- Target, Kroger, Petco. So exciting.

Sunday afternoon we had 2 birthday parties!!! Vivian's 1st Birthday and Laurel's 30th. They were both a blast. Vivian was soo cute in her birthday bubble outfit but she didn't really love the cake:( Laurel's party was at Mikata (Mikata means fun!) and we had a great time with all the neighborhood peeps!

This weeks is a little crazy. Philip is on call almost every night and the Chamber has our annual golf tournament tomorrow so I think we will both be ready for the weekend!

Oh, and here's my new bike that I ordered from Golden Bikes on Saturday. I can't wait for it to come in but b/c it's a new model it won't be here until the begining of November...bummer! I'm going to try to find a basket for it so Charlie can ride with me! ha ha! And definitely a bell and some streamers too!

Hunts-vegas!

Philip and I loaded up the truck (literally) and headed to Huntsville this past weekend. We had planned on stopping at Chick-Fil-A for dinner but the closer we got to Birmingham, the stronger my Rojo craving grew. So we ended up stopping there for dinner, eating our usual favorites and tried to out run the rain that was headed our way! We finally made it to Huntsville kinda late but at least the furniture didn't get too wet!

Saturday morning we went to Scottsboro to watch Bob kick some butt in his triathlon. The rest of the day was spent lying on the couch & watching football! Saturday was Bob's birthday so we went out to dinner and had a really nice time. It had been a while (like February) since we had been to Huntsville and we were really glad we got to go!

We had to head back to Auburn early on Sunday so Philip could check on their patients at the hospital. Sunday afternoon, we went down to the coffee shop and tasted a few of the soups they started serving this week- they were great!- and went to Luke Donaldson's first birthday party. It was a lot of fun and he was so cute! He put his whole face in the cake and got red icing everywhere!

This week has been nice & slow. Last night, they Donaldsons & Meyers came over for spaghetti and we all got to visit while the babies chased Charlie around the house- he loved it!

This weekend Auburn is playing in Starkville so we're looking forward to a relaxing weekend on the couch!

Happy Friday & War Eagle!

Charlie just wanted to tell everyone Happy Friday and War Eagle!

Football & Fun

Who doesn't love a holiday weekend! Especially when it's the first weekend of college football!! We started the weekend off on Friday eating mexican with Hiro, Lindsey & Dennis and watching a lady take a flaming shot then barf all over the floor. It was quite entertainig!

Saturday my parents came up and we headed over to our tailgate spot. It was pretty hot but we managed to survive thanks to some ice cold beverages:) The Auburn game was fairly uneventful but they won so everyone was satisfied. We left about half time, ordered pizza and Philip was asleep in his recliner by 9:30. A successful day, by his standards.

Sunday we ran errands and hosted the Southside Sunday Funday! It was a blast. We've really enjoyed getting to know all the couples in our new neighborhood. Everyone is so nice and has welcomed Philip and myself into the neighborhood group with open arms! Even Charlie had some of his new friends, Victor & Boo Radley, over and they played & played all night.

Monday was spent at the coffee shop and watching the entire season 4 of Enterouge on dvd. Yeppers, that would mean roughly 5 hours on the couch- it was awesome!

I'll try to post some pics tonight. I forgot to take my camera to our tailgate on Saturday but took some pictures on Sunday so hopefully there are some worth posting.

WDE!

I think he's finally settling in...

To the new home. One thing I know he misses is being able to look out the windows like he could at the house on Heritage- some of the windows went down to the floor. But this morning I came out of the bathroom and found him sitting like this. He can't really see much of the outside from this view but I guess it's OK with him!

I've also added a few more pics to my Boston post.

Have a great Wednesday everyone!

PS- Please excuse all the mess in the picture!

Rain, Rain...Go Away!

It's rained in Opelika for the past 3 days and I'm tired of it! Friday night we cooked out with some of the southside folks and then went to the bar. We braved the elements Saturday while doing some errands and were drowned rats by the time we got home. Saturday night we went to dinner at Arricia (at The Hotel) and the power was out in all of the hotel rooms! Luckily, they had everything running in the restaurant, well except for the a/c, and dinner was fabulous! We woke up around 3:45 am Sunday morning to the tornado sirens going off for the 3rd time. I checked the weather and thought I heard something dripping. Philip went on a search and found some water dripping from the crown molding in our guest room. Oh yippee! Needless to say I didn't get much sleep after that. However, after speaking with some of our friends, we found out that we were not the only ones! Apparently 5" of rain in about 2 hours isn't good for anyone's roof. Our builder says there are no holes but that it was just raining so hard and so much, the gutters overflowed- or something like that. Either way, I'm ready to be done with Fay!!! And can't wait until the first Auburn game on Saturday. War Eagle!

Just back from Boston....and boy do my feet hurt!!

Waiting on our taxi outside UMass. It will be a LONG time before I carry that dang camping pack again! Finished!!!! Now where are my flip-flops! And can someone find me a beer??

Boston skyline in the background.
They had these signs that you could carry while walking. So I carried one for Gran!
We went to the Sam Adams brewery for a tour.
(***Warning: Could be lengthy post!)

Wendy & I made it back in one piece! Boston was so much fun and the walk was one of those experiences I don't think I'll ever forget. We made it to her friend Amy's apartment about 9 pm on Thursday night. Amy & her husband, Ashley, have recently moved to Boston from Birmingham and live in the Fenway neighborhood. We were pretty pooped by the time we got there but not too tired to go eat some Italian and drink some wine at a great little place about 25 yards from their building. Little did I know it would be my last edible meal until Sunday night!

We got up at 4:15 am Friday morning (which is really 3:15 for those of us in the central time zone!) and headed out to Gillette Stadium, where the Patriots play, to start our walk. We had an Opening Ceremony and we were off! Wahoo! Until about 5 minutes later when it started pouring rain and our rain jackets were in our bags. Booo!!!! Neither of us can remember why in the world we left them in there but anyway....So about 30 minutes in to our rain soaked walk, we came upon a grocery store where we made a dash for it and bought some ponchos. They helped a little bit but by then we were already soaked and FREEZING! But eventually the rain stopped and we dried out. Friday we walked a total of 18.5 miles. Unfortunately for about 80% of the walkers, the early rain resulted in hellacious blisters that made many of them resort to just walking in flip-flops b/c it hurt too much to wear tennis shoes. I was one of the few that managed not to get any blisters. Thank you Jesus!

Just as we were finishing up and walking in to camp, the skies grew dark again and they made us all go in to the school. We grabbed our bags- even though they told us not to- and began the 2 hour "lock in" at the middle school. While we sat in the hallway and watched it pour, we made the executive decision to just sleep in the school Friday night rather than put our tent up and take our chances outside. Eventually, they made everyone sleep inside because it was supposed to storm all night. Note: The spaghetti dinner they served us Friday night was the only meal I can honestly say was OK.

Lucky for us walkers, we woke up to a nice day on Saturday. Otherwise known as "so hot" to the people in Boston. I think it might have broke 90 but I'm not sure. What a bunch of wimps:) Saturday's walk was pretty uneventful, except for my short ride the the "Support Shuttle" due to a little bought of low blood sugar. Nothing a lift to the next pit stop for some food couldn't fix. Saturday we walked 20.7 miles (I think this number will be ingrained in my memory forever!). About half way through Saturday is when I started experiencing mega pain in my feet! We got to do the whole tent thing Saturday night. It was pretty cool, except if you had to pee in the middle of the night. The potties were a little bit of a walk.

Sunday was the last day. We only had to walk 15 miles, what a relief! When I got up that morning I almost fell I was so sore! But I was so excited it was the last day that I just kept popping Motrin and walked through the pain. With about 2 miles left, we came upon a bunch of the walkers sitting on a patio outside a restaurant having cocktails. Not ones to be a party pooper, Wendy & I stopped for a beer and joined the fun! Eventually we got back on the road and finished the walk. It was such a neat experience, definitely one I will never forget!

Sunday night we headed back to Amy's apartment, showered and went on the hunt for edible food and wine! After some searching and an inpromtu tour from a recent Harvard grad, we ended up at this italian place in Little Italy. It was the best fettuccini alfredo I've ever had! We befriended the guy sitting next to us, drank wine, cleaned our plates and Wendy caught her hair on fire. By the time we made it back to Amy's, we were spent and looking forward to sleeping past 5 am!

Monday, Amy took us around the city of Boston. We ate breakfast in Cambridge, drove through Harvard & MIT, attempted to go on a Duck Tour, visited the Sam Adams brewery and saw Amy's studio where she makes awesome clay jewelry (I bought 3 pieces!-http://www.olariastudio.com/). After an hour delay at the airport, we finally took off for Atlanta. By 11:45, I was finally sleeping in an actual bed for the first time since Wednesday!

I encourage everyone to consider the 3-Day walk. It was such a great experience and so moving to see the survivors and people currently undergoing treatment have the energy to do the walk. Definitely made us think twice when we were complaning about our sore muscles and blisters!

Pictures coming soon. Hopefully I can steal the computer for a few minutes this weekend!

Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho...Off to Boston I go!

I leave today for Boston! Me and Wendy (my neighbor in Birmingham) are doing the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk. I'm a little nervous about it but excited too! We will walk 20 miles a day for 3 days and sleep in a tent. Yeppers, ole Mer is going campin'! I'll be sure and post a pic of that when I get back.
Here are a few of the funny/interesting things on our suggested packing list:
1. Fanny Pack- seriously!
2. Body Glide
3. Tarp- just in case it rains, we can cover our tent with it. wait...what???? you mean if it rains we still have to sleep outside????
4. Blister band-aids- can't wait to use these!

I'll post pics of our adventure when I get back! If you are interested in learning more about the 3-Day walk, go to www.the3day.org. They have these all over the country and have just announced the cities for 2009!

New Home!!!

Well, we did it! We've officially moved in to the loft...hooray! With the help of my parents (they came Thursday and packed all our crap!) and Philip's parents- and 2 Men & A Truck- we got it done fairly easily. We're both so glad that it's over and very grateful to our parents for all their hard work this weekend! Last night, we had some of the "south side" crew over for pizza and beer- a tradition for the new folks that come in to the neighborhood. Even though we were exhausted, it was so nice having people over...something we haven't done since we moved here really.

Here are some pics of the new pad. I am honestly proud to say there are only a few boxes left and most of them are pantry items that are anxiously waiting on the shelves to be installed in the pantry (hopefully tomorrow!). Let us know what you think and come visit!!!!!!!!!!!

Anniversary!

Some of our favorite pics from 2 years ago today!



These are the flowers Philip had sent to my office today. So sweet!

Today is our 2nd anniversary! I can hardly believe it's been 2 years already. It's definitely been a fun 2 years for both of us with lots of football games, trips, school, graduation and moves! Since this week is so crazy, we had our anniversary dinner last Friday at the beach and our present to each other was our trip to the beach. Probably the best gift we could have gotten each other right now! I love you very much Philip! Happy Anniversary!

Here, There & Everywhere!

The Bride & Groom
It has been a crazy few weeks for us! Weekend before last, we headed up to Birmingham for one of my bestest friends, Julie, wedding. It was so much fun! We got to stay with Philip's BFF and his wife who just moved to Birmingham from Mobile for his residency in ER medicine. Then, Sunday morning we got up early, and I mean early, and headed down to San Destin for a week at the beach with Tony, Britney & Nick. It was sooooo nice and relaxing! We definitely did not want to come home:( We laid on the beach, ate a lot and just relaxed. It was a much deserved break for the both of us!

Saturday we got back home rejuvenated and ready for the big move this week. When Philip got upstairs with our suitcases, he looked down at his legs and they were covered in fleas!!!! Not exactly how we had pictured our return home after being gone for 9 days. So after 7 flea bombs, a mega bath for Charlie, dinner at Amsterdams (to down our sorrows), a night spent with friends and a Capstar (the pill that will kill fleas within 30 min) I think we have gotten our house back! Needless to say we are VERY ready to move this weekend.

On that note, we got most of our kitchen stuff moved in on Sunday with the help of my parents. The contractor is putting in the finishing touches this week and the moving van is coming on Saturday for the big move!!! This week has been pretty crazy so far and it's only Tuesday but it will be worth it in the end. Please pray for good weather on Saturday- right now there is a 40% chance of rain!

Pictures for this post coming soon!