What Can I Say? I'm A Night Owl!

No kidding. I do stay up way too late. If only there were a late shift at my job....but this isn't about my insomnia. I am a little OCD when it comes to owls. Love 'em. Thank you, Chi Omega.

So, fellow Hoots...look what I found to lounge in at my favorite Target (and none other than a Phi-Mu girlfriend who loves to make fun of my owls told me about them! ha!)

How precious (not me, of course, I'm looking rough! This is truly a late-night picture!) And check out the shorts too....you will NOT see me modeling these on the world wide web!Ok, run to your local Target and get your new pj's...this lil' hoot's going to try and hit the hay!

The Loveliest Village on the Plains

Makes me so happy. If nothing else does these days, Auburn sure can! What a great escape after these long work weeks. I want to move back. Just how bad can the commute be? And the time change? I can probably handle it. Surely.

I flew over as fast as I could Friday after work, met up with my buddies, and after staking our claim at the usual tailgating spot under Cater Lawn's oak tree, we had a fun dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings and wrapped up the night with what else? Rock Band Baby. (let me clarify--I was a groupie--I have no rhythm.) But Greg Pettey and Brian Allen can rock the house....

Our tailgate cannot be topped (completely unbiased opinion of course), with the most food, the most friends, the most fun, and the most cornhole one could ever need! (oh and the most heat--good Lord it was hot!) It always seems like there's never enough time to visit all the friends and family that come down!

Me and my sweet fam cheering the Tigers on against LA Tech!

And I am super excited to find out I have a new stadium buddy this year! Look who I found sitting right smack in front of me--Lenzie and Molly!This Friday can't get here soon enough! I'm so ready to do this all over again! War Eagle!!

On Sunday, I managed to squeeze in a little lake trip to with this cutie (and her parents actually got to come too.) I could love on this bambino all day. This little ladybug is Tori.

Here's her mommy and daddy (and in December her little brother will be joining her on the boat!)

It was a great weekend with friends and family, one I hope to repeat this weekend, to keep my mind off of all the deadlines I have to meet (and are not getting met!) in September!! Work stinks!

Hello Out There

I am alive. I am also busy. These days around the Federal Government we have what we call "year end." It blows. The short of it is I work long hours to spend all of Ft. Benning's money to award construction contracts to eager beaver contractors. Don't get me wrong--I love spending other people's money (actually I suppose it's our tax dollars...), but that leaves me little time to play on the blog world, Facebook, with friends.....basically I sacrifice my life until September 30th. However my boss understands I work late every evening and on the weekends but I have a standing date with the Auburn Tigers on home game Saturdays for the next several weeks. WDE.

I have managed to squeeze a few fun things in the past few weeks. I am way behind on updating yall. Here's a runthrough. Let's see...

I hit the road for Mobile to see these precious girlfriends....

And after a fun dinner Friday night with their cute husbands, we somehow ended up at "the boats" in Biloxi...and my purse seemed a whole lot lighter on the way home.... Saturday we shopped til we dropped, then celebrated Leah's hubby's, Brian Allen's 30th birthday!

Next stop was one last beach trip, my last vaca for the summer before the dreaded "year-end" took my weekends away...so I drug myself to the Gulf Coast...ha! Painful, right?

Oh, and I had company... check out this face. Sure his parents came, and kid brother, and Aunt Haley too, but nobody can pull off those curls and actually make me want to get up early at the beach like Samuel can!

Oh, and here's a good one...the DAY BEFORE leaving for the beach, my poor car experienced its first "fender bender." Devastating, heartbreaking. And the first major thing I've had to deal with as a "big girl," on my own, from cops, to tow trucks, to insurance and claims, and in the first split seconds I thought I'd fall apart. Who do I call? What do you do first, cops or insurance? I got so flustered. Then mad. Then sad. Then mad again. But the good news, my friends, I handled it, like the big girl Iam, or I've become, and I've got wonderful friends and family who not only got me through this but who constantly have reminded me that whether its a fender bender or a major 180 in my life, they're there. And I love yall for it.

And thanks to Daddy I've been cruising around in this sporty thing of his while my poor car is being fixed!

Whew..on to lighter things...I hosted a "Sprinkle" for my sweet friend Aimee at my house for her second bambino, a little boy due in October...and had an icecream bar. Just what we needed on a hot Sunday afternoon! Here's Mama Aimee sneakin' a little oreo bite!

Next up, or last up (I know, I know, finally) last weekend...a treasure hunt on Lake Harding. A local radio station hosted a treasure hunt (like a poker run) on the lake, where we went from house to house collecting our pirate's booty (haha!) and ending up at Kokomo's, a restaurant on the lake for the grand prize drawing at the end of the day. I of course did not win the treasure chest of gold (or a jet ski in this case) but the day was a blast just the same! Here's my Captain, Rich.... AAARGH!! (Yes, those are those Miller Lite girls in my boat, as well as the radio station...we were the sponsor boat). Took me a few to get comfy with those chicks on there! Ha!

Sarah and me with our pirate tatoos....yes, I scrubbed and it came off for church on Sunday thank the Lord!Some people got seriously into the theme, what you can't see is the parrot, coconuts, etc...these people were crazy!!

Now, you'll all caught up. Well, this is what I've captured in pictures at least. My life is still a roller coaster, I'm a basketcase sometimes, but I'm here, and I'll figure out where I'm supposed to be one of these days. For now its in the bed! And this weekend its on the Plains! And for the next 30 days its in the office for work work work. I cannot wait to see some of your sweet faces this weekend!

A Family Tradition

It's been a busy few weeks at work, but I can't neglect to post about a fun event a few weeks ago that happens every year in my family. Here's the background...follow along if you can.... My mom's mom, Mimi, is one of nine children. One of her sisters, my great-Aunt Vivian, didn't have any girls. So she decided she wanted all her nieces to come to her house for an annual "Niece Reunion." That was in 1983, and so it began. A handful of first generation nieces, my mom and her cousins, and some of us 2nd generation made an appearance as well, to be spoiled rotten by "Aunt Vudda" too!

The nieces and Aunt V on an outing to Lambert's Cafe (yes, I know the outfits date us. I'd say circa '97 by my skinny legs, Adidas, and Jessie's socks and Birkenstocks! HA!)

Here's cute Aunt Vudda (with cousins April and Rachael) modeling their poodle skirts for the 50's!

Heading down to Mobile in the late summer became an annual event. Each niece took a turn picking a "theme" for a year. We started off with a Birthday year special for Aunt Viv, we had Christmas in July, a fiesta, the Wild West West, the 50's, and the list goes on! We put on skits, we play games, we dress up, we act like complete fools and love every minute!! I've never looked forward to an air mattress more in my life!

Sadly, Aunt Vivian passed away when I was in college, and we put the Niece Reunions on hold for a few years. Last year we decided we should honor her and keep them going, and so I hosted about 15 crazy women at my house with a Hollywood theme!

Here are all the Hollywood ladies at my crib for the '08 Reunion...aren't we stars?!

That leads me to this year - my cousin Amy hosted in LaGrange, and we had an Easter theme...told you we were weird....and it couldn't have been more fun!

My mom's sister, the EVER talented artist Aunt Sandi sketched each of these real Easter eggs for us! The pictures don't do them justice!

We stayed up late and got up early.

But when you wake up to these two precious faces, you can't complain too much, right? That's Joe Boxer on the left. He slobbers a little on the heavy side. He was the only nephew allowed. That's Ellie on the right. She's a mini-me. I want to take her home. Too. Stinkin. Cute.

We ate a lot. I mean a lot. Easter cookies, carrot cake, you name it. We even ventured out Saturday nite to an amazing museum in LaGrange where we had a "Passover" dinner just like in Biblical times. It was amazing. (The experience, the food was just normal).

We told stories. Some of Aunt Viv, always the kind that make you laugh. We fight over who's her fave. Aunt Sandi tells ghost stories. It freaks me out 21 reunions later....no joke. We check up from the past year. Ups and downs, share pictures, family news. And most importantly, set the date and host and theme for the next Reunion!!

We took lots of pictures...here's the first generation (minus the one's that couldnt come! We missed them lots!)

And here's the second gen, we like taking pictures lots more than our mamas!

Love these people, and cannot wait until Aunt Nancy hosts next year (at the BEACH and cousin Connie's house)...theme: Valentines!

Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?

Oh, and makes wishes come true??

DUH, people! It's SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS!!!

Meet Jake. Jake loves Spongebob Squarepants. And all things Nickelodeon for that matter.

Which means when he beat a nasty brain tumor and the Make A Wish Foundation asked him what his biggest wish in the whole wide world was....this cute kid said he wanted to go on the Nikelodeon cruise and meet Spongebob Squarepants and his friends!!

So before Jake and his family head on their Mexican cruise to get SLIMED this weekend we had to send them off in style with a Spongebob party! And since SB lives in a pineapple under the sea, of course we had pineapple juice, with pineapple wedges on our glasses-delish! And all of Jakes favorite fruit! And of course his favorite - chocolate chip cookies!

And what's a party without a great cake. Another great contributor to Make-A-Wish is Publix. They put extra special care into decorating our wish cakes, and Jake's cake was no exception! They personalized it with a special note that said "Jake, Dreams do come true!"

But don't worry, that Spongebob only lasted for a few flashes of the camera....until little man's hands were reaching in, and his face was buried in icing, as he found it necessary to clean him off to take home! It was too funny!

After devouring Spongebob, and just a few cookies, someone spied a gift bag with his name on it....and when those eyes look at you and say "Can I open my pwesent now?" believe me, people, there is NO resisting." So tissue paper went to flying. And you will never see a more grateful child. He loved everything. Big and small.

Never seen a kid get so excited about a t-shirt, but Jake did. And it was his favorite color-blue!

And how about a very cool collector's Make-A-Wish Hot Wheels car-Cool!

And (though the picture's not good with the glare) and cool painting of a pirate ship with a quote that says "Be who you ARGHHHHH!" Jake said "How did you know I love pirates?!?!" I could eat him slap up.

Jake and his brothers ran around the awesome new Soldiers Park we just finished up at Ft. Benning, (his father is a soldier here) and managed to hold him down long enough for a picture or two.

Haley, Jake, and me illegally sitting on the fountain (after the cops busted us for climbing on it already! ha!)

Precious fam shot

This little man, I just cant get enough of him. It was hard saying goodbye after the party was over. He asked if we could have a pajama party that night, and gosh, I really wanted to! He keeps me laughing more than I have in so long! Sometimes it's hard not genuinely becoming attached to these families. You create such bonds, and feel like part of the family. I look forward to them getting back from the cruise so we can get together to see pictures and hear stories, I have no doubt Jake is going to be the life of the party.....just look at that stinker.

**for more pictures of Jake's big party click here!

Aloha!

This may be a long post, because I could talk about this forever (yall know how much I love this stuff) but I will try to make it short and sweet. Maybe I'll just dedicate another post to MAW altogether and just wear yall slap out then...anyway.....so on to this weekend....and the crab explanation....

Lauren is one of our precious Make-A-Wish kids (not really a "kid," she's 18 now) and her wish is to go to Hawaii with her family! She leaves this weekend, and like always my "wish partner" Haley and I like to do a little send off party for the family before they go. Well, in this case what better party is there than a LUAU to send her off in style!!

(the hilarious pink flamingo was the welcoming committee of course!!)

We had food galore!! Pink lemonade with umbrella straws! My mom's delish fruit pizza! Ham and cheese tray! Fruit fruit and more fruit (straight from the islands right?) And there is Mr. Crab above. Along with a hanging parrot, the welcoming flamingo, fish, beach balls, a palm tree, and anything else we could find to blow up and make it feel like we were on vacation!

AND the most FANTASTIC cake from Columbus Corner Bakery, who I cannot give enough props too ever. They put so much special detail and love into our MAW cakes, and refuse to let me pay a dime.

Now. All the admin is over, you've seen the decor. Check out this precious kiddo and her cute fam as they walked up the stairs and we "lei-ed" them!

(Lauren, Mom, sis Morgan, Dad)

Oh uh--look out....before we knew it grandparents started spilling in too! An unknown (but welcome!) surprise! They were precious!!

And we had a few surprises of our own too for Lauren! See these cute "Hawaiian" ladies? Well, they actually live in Jacksonville, FL, and came up 'specially for Lauren on Sunday! You see, Lalee, in the middle, is an 83 year old professional dance instructor of Hawaiian dances such as the hula, who is so fabulous (and of course so humble so I have to brag about her!) that teams are sent from her studio to Hawaii each year to compete in national hula competitions! What?!?! Anyway, Haley got her hands on them and they were so sweet to take time to travel up to Columbus and Lalee taught her some hula moves!!

Lalee teaching all the ladies some hula, baby! We were so clueless. And she was SUCH a dance teacher! "Straighten dos arms la-dies! Pop dos hips!" "Look at ma-ma go now!" Too stinkin' cute!

Mom, Dad, and Lauren. We had our mini-luau at the new marina at Lake Oliver in Columbus, which I didnt even know existed until last week, and I'm so glad one of my Bunko girlfriends filled me in! It's beautiful! Perfect place for sunsets and pontoon rides and picnics...and luaus! Me, Lauren, and Haley - This cute chick has been waiting a long time for her wish to come true, and we are so grateful to have been a part of it! I hope she has the very best time in Hawaii, swimming with dolphins, relaxing on her spa day, snorkeling, and at her family's private luau! I cant wait to see all the pictures when they get home! Love you Lauren!! E pili mau nâ pômaika`i me `oe ! !!

(Means "Best Wishes!" in Hawaiian!) :)

**For more pics of Lauren's big day, click here!

Coming Up...

An explanation...soon. Promise.

In the meantime, gotta run. Feeling a little crabby. ;-)