Gameday on the Plains

Well, it finally arrived. Gameday was here. Y'all, it's almost like Christmas down here. The past couple of years, I've had a Gameday Eve "Tailgate" at my apartment on Friday (hence, Gameday Eve). It's very casual, just swing by, hang out as long as you like, eat, whatever. This year, I so did not get it together enough to invite all my neighbors. Oops. :/

I would like to note that one of my Junior League friends came by and brought her three-year-old son. I had fun catching up with her and playing with her son. He fell asleep in the car on the way home. (So, I debate adding this part, since all my college age neighbors thought this sounded terrible, but as a post-college adult who has taken care of a lot of children, I use the "offensive" phrase all the time in this sense, but here goes: I say it isn't a party unless someone passes out. So, little one didn't pass out from drinking - there was no alcohol served until way after he left - but he was so worn out from a long day and all that playing at my place he "passed out." Party success!)

Andy finally got here around 8:30 and we hung out, drank, ate, watched the end of Little Miss Sunshine, and went to bed around 11:00.

The next morning was GAMEDAY!!! I've been waiting on this day since June. We got up bright and early at 7:00, I made breakfast, he cleaned up a little, and we got going. Andy's friend, Johnathan, from college came down and my friend James and some of his friends came down. I had met Johnathan years ago, before I got my first apartment down here, but we never crossed paths again until this weekend.

Johnathan, Me, and Andy before leaving for the game

We got to our seats, and, y'all, it was so exciting!!! Look at all that orange!

 

As part of some pre-game activities, we saw the final installment of where Aubie has been with the crystal football. Of course, he ended up on the field! You better believe I was screaming and about to cry like a girl at a Beatles concert back in the day. You can't see it in the picture, but Aubie's running around the field with the crystal football. I was too excited to remember to zoom.

I don't know how many Auburn fans are going to agree with me about this, but I had total confidence we were going to win the whole time (except for when we had about three minutes left, I got a bit panicked). So what if it was a close game and we trailed at times? Y'all, I love - LOVE - Gene Chizik. He has got that team under control and I have total faith in him. Had Tommy Tubberville been our coach, I feel like we definitely would have lost that game. To me, the game seemed to be evenly matched (just because we're playing a team we're supposed to beat doesn't mean they are a bad team), and I am really pleased with the way it panned out. We never got so far behind we couldn't catch up and at the very end, when it seemed like there was a chance we might actually lose, we got two touchdowns back to back and pulled out the win. If we had done that earlier, there's a good chance the other team would have scored on us again. We had to let them think they had the game, and then get 'em at the very end, when they didn't have time to beat us. Loved it!

While I'm on the subject, I have got to say how disgusted I am with some of the Auburn fans sitting around me. I think they must be converts because the way they talk about our team disgusts me. Saying things like, "Come on, Tigers, wake up," and exchanging looks that could easily say, "What a bunch of losers out there. I am so disgusted." That, y'all, is NOT being a good Auburn fan. Support your team!

Back to the weekend, after I got my shower, and we rested up a bit, we went to Amsterdam Cafe for dinner. A girl was selling feather hair extensions, so I got some more feathers in my hair. (Yay!) Dinner was heavenly. Filet, broccolini, Malbec. Nomnomnom. And for dessert, I had the chocolate cheesecake. More nomnomnom.

Johnathan headed back to the ATL and I went to bed early. Apparently, Andy stayed up and watched TV. When we got up the next morning, we had a little breakfast, got ready, went to Target and Kroger, and went to Amsterdam again, where else? I've been craving a turkey wrap for months, y'all. (Andy and I usually order a turkey wrap to go when we eat dinner there, but we were so stuffed we couldn't think of any more food on Saturday. The next morning all we could talk about was how I should have texted Levi, my old neighbor from back in the day, to send a couple of turkey wraps home with my new next door neighbor. Yes, nearly everyone in my Auburn life is connected to Amsterdam.)

It was a great weekend and I now have to get back to reality and prepare to work some today and tomorrow.



Tag! I'm it ... are you?

I got tagged! Shannon at Sincerely Shannon tagged me to answer eight questions, then tag eight other people to answer a new set of eight questions that I have to come up with. Exciting!!! (Can y'all tell I love having something picked out for my blog already?) I also love the theme, Shannon :)

1. Do you like Starbucks? And are you a fan of their seasonal coffees (aka. pumpkin spice latte)?

I heart Starbucks. I have never had one of their seasonal drinks, but I think I might have to try a pumpkin spice this year. I don't go there often, so when I do, I get a mocha. Tall, decaf, skinny, splash of vanilla ... nom, nom, nom.

2. How do you decorate and prepare for fall?

I have a HUGE box full of things to decorate with for fall - everything from football memorabilia to pumpkins and leaves, to Halloween. I've got a great pumpkin collection going on. Sadly, I don't have room in Auburn right now to decorate for seasons. I'm trying to figure it out. Usually, I start pulling out the fall in September, get out the Halloween in October, turn the jack-o-lanterns around for Thanksgiving, put up the tree Thanksgiving night (in a perfect world!), and switch out fall with Christmas in December. Or after Thanksgiving.

  

3. Will you participate in your college's homecoming activities?

Probably not. While I did most of my undergrad at Auburn, I graduated from UAB. I never could get into the spirit at UAB, and I feel awkward doing the homecoming thing with Auburn since I didn't graduate from there. Anyway, everyday I spend in Auburn is a homecoming :)

4. What is your favorite fall clothing item or accessory?

Sweaters. And boots. I can't pick one.

5. What was your favorite Halloween costume as a kid?

I think the best one I ever had was a "teenybopper", back when they wore poodle skirts, white t-shirts, scarves, and keds. My mother made part of my costume, a pink felt poodle skirt. I wish I still had it. (And that I could still wear it, but that was 18 years ago. Oh, am I getting old!)

6. Do you like halloween/horror movies? Do you have a favorite?

I really don't like them. No matter how cheesy or fake they are, I will have dreams about them. I also don't like all that "impending doom" music. ("Grey's Anatomy" season finale, anyone? No amount of chocolate or wine could save me from that one.)

I am a bit partial to It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. :)

7. What is your favorite fall activity? (College football games, Costume parties, Trick or treating, carving pumpkins, haunted houses, apple picking, etc)

Gamedays and Halloween parties. Anyone in Auburn want to send their kids to trick or treat me? Please?

8. What is your favorite fall recipe?

Vegetable Soup and Cornbread. It's actually really easy. Get whatever vegetables you like, stew beef, a beef boullion. Brown the beef, put it all together in a stock pot, add some water. Add about four to six boullion cubes. Cook on low for about six hours. Nom. Nom. Nom. As for the cornbread, I make my own, but Sister Schuberts make a great frozen cornbread. I'll post a better recipe later. I promise.

My Eight Questions

1. What is your favorite fall tradition? (I know I kind of stole that one from Shannon, but I love hearing about 'em!)

2. Do you play games on Facebook? (Any Sorority Life fans out there?)

3. What's on your nightstand now?

4. What song best describes your life now?

5. What is the best way to find someone to date?

6. Do you dye your hair?

7. What quote or Bible verse gives you encouragement?

8. What is your favorite blog to read?

Now, I'm supposed to tag eight people. I'm not going to do that. I'm tagging Shannon back. And I'm tagging all my readers, public or hidden, to keep it going. Answer my questions, and then ask your own questions, and get to tagging. :)

Living it up

I'm linking up with Kelly's Korner for "Show us your Life Fridays". This week is living rooms. I'm doing my Auburn one, since it's where I live now (but stay on the lookout for my Birmingham mantle!). Keep in mind the room is mostly finished, but I still have a little more to do.

The Auburn condo is really small, and considering I love to entertain, I have to make the best of my space.

People ask me all the time about my furniture and "things" around the place. So, I'm going to fill in some of my decorating tips and where I got the things, as much as I can remember.

I think the best way to describe the theme of this room is "things I LOVE." I originally wanted to do an animal print theme, but it turned into a room that defines me. (By the way, I am going to have to SEARCH to see if I have anything from Pottery Barn in here. I haven't noticed it yet, and you all know how much Girl Sunday loves her Pottery Barn!)

This is the living room from the front door. My "studio" (not quite complete) is to the left, my bedroom to the right, and, duh!, the "kitchen" (te-niny!) is in the back. Also in this picture, in the bottom left, is the rabbit cage.

This is the view from my "studio". To the right is the entertainment center.

Here is the view from my bedroom. Obviously, the entertainment center has some work to be done on it. I got it at Lowes, but you can find wire shelves almost anywhere - Lowe's, Home Depot, Target, KMart, Wal-Mart, etc. Be sure the shelves can hold at least 350 pounds each, and that it is wide enough for your TV. (Back when TVs were square we didn't have to worry about that!)

To the left of the sofa are my beloved books. I found the "Peace" and "Dream" wall art at Target this summer. The bookcase is from Pier One, about six years ago. It's their "Dakota" bookcase, back when "Dakota" was black iron with copper undertones. 

This is the detail on the table and chairs under the pink flower (from Ross). I LOVE this furniture set. The copper color is beautiful and really helps tie the room together (I broke a rule and mixed metals, as well as black and brown). The result is actually better than I ever would have thought. I think the key is using tonal browns, so the colors blend and complement with the black.

All Most of my books. I love to read! I haven't read all of them yet, but I have read most of them. The top shelf is philosophy, books to read, and Christian. The second shelf is humor and literature (the picture has a cute litte frame story ... maybe I will share later). Third shelf is history and reproductive health. Fourth shelf is lifestyle and reference. And, finally, the bottom shelf is yearbooks, and miscellaneous.

Also in this picture is the best glimpse at the sofa's color and texture. As with most things in this room, I also love my sofa. It's brown velvet, but it has gray undertones, which help tie the brown into the black accents the developers used. I got the sofa last year at Auburn Furniture and I think it's by Broyhill.

Here is my favorite chair. I got it last year from Pier One. On clearance! And I saved a good bit extra by opening a credit card with them. The chair is purple velvet, and when I got the picture of the pink flower, I had originally intended to put it in my bedroom, but I saw it sitting in the den, next to the chair, and realized it went really well in the room. The chair pulls out the purple used in the painting, so it's not so intense in the room.

I mentioned earlier about using browns that are tonal. The best example of that is this trunk (in the bottom of the picture) I got from Target. It was originally a bedroom linen trunk in Birmingham, but now it is my "coffee table". Notice how some of the "reeds" (is that what they are?) are black and some brown and there are varying shades in between? That's what I mean by tonal.

Onto my console. I got the shelves at Hobby Lobby on clearance, and the table at Target. The glass candle holders are from TJ Maxx, and I put coffee beans and tea lights in them. I ALWAYS keep fresh flowers. Just because :) The turquoise/blue/teal vase in the back has dried roses from my old resident manager. (The vase is also from Pier One, about six years ago and I believe is called the "Peacock Vase". Again, it has some copper in it to help tie the room together.) I used to have a bulletin board covering the fuse box, but it fell and I need to work on that some more. :(  The peace sign is a Girl Sunday original. It can be found at my upcoming craft business' website.

When I have parties, I clear the console table and use it to display food or paperwares.

"There was an old bunny who lived in a cage under the TV ..."

Yea! Feffer is back in Auburn! Sweet Bunny Boy is almost eight years old (i.e. really old for a rabbit).

Thank you for visiting! I look forward to seeing what everyone else has done with their living areas. And, thank you, Kelly, for hosting!

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

The time I discovered drinking during class was appropriate

It's a good thing I use an alias for this stuff, or I might get in big trouble.

There was this one time, when I was at Auburn, during my last semester there, when I was taking a class that was a HUGE waste of time.

It was called Public Personnel Administration. In a nutshell, it was Office Politics (for the public sector, mind you). You know, the stuff about sexual harassment (quid pro quo vs. hostile work environment), hiring (merit vs. spoils system), evaluating performance, maximizing performance, and that's about all I can remember. I can't even remember what I did for my presentation and paper. I just remember the class lasted 2 1/2 hours and the teacher was not an effective communicator. I also remember I wore a pink sweater for my presentation, there was a girl from Wadley, Alabama, some guy having a job waiting on him because of the spoils system, sexual harassment, something about unions, leaving class early once because I thought my sinuses were giving me problems, only I realized my jaw was hurting because I was clenching my teeth so hard, and, of course, the time I drank during class.

I had been having a rough day. I don't remember what started it, but when I couldn't find a pair of shoes to buy ('cause, duh!, there's not a lot of problems a new pair of shoes can't cure) and then something else happened, my nerves were shot and I began praying class would get cancelled that night. I grabbed a veggie pita from McAlister's (back when veggie pitas were cheap and came with parmesan peppercorn and they didn't have all that extra stuff on them that took away from the basic tastiness) and a big old cup of unsweet tea (another un-Southern thing about me).

I got home, still sipping on my tea when my neighbor came up to visit (the one who could have her own book I have so many stories about her). I told her about my yucky day and we decided the next best thing to new shoes is new clothes.

I don't think that worked either.

When I got back home again, to get ready to go to the class that never got cancelled, I saw my McAllister's cup sitting next to my Southern Comfort and the world began to make sense, once again.

I made myself one of my famous Scarlett O'Hara's (drink recipe to follow) in the McAllister's cup and I was off to class.

I think the class had to do with women in the workplace because there was a lot of debate about whether or not women should work and how women who work are perceived.

Others would say it was the Southern Comfort broadening my horizons, but I know what really happened was another raw nerve was struck that evening and the Scarlett O'Hara kept me from totally losing it. I remember the only time I participated in class was to announce how disgusted I was that women who are open about wanting to work end up getting called feminists and sometimes even femi-nazis, both in the derogatory sense. What's up with that?

My fan club, watching to see how I handled my liquor, burst out laughing.

I quit drinking at break so I could be sober for the drive home.

I may have been crazy enough to drink during class (that one time), but I knew my body. I knew just how much to drink to keep me from losing it, but not get me in trouble.

Scarlett O'Hara (a.k.a. SoCo and Cran)

Ingredients:
Southern Comfort
Cranberry Juice
Ice
Lime (optional)

Directions:
Fill a stadium cup with ice

Pour about 1/4 to 1/3 full with SoCo

Fill with cranberry juice

Blend by transferring mixture into an empty stadium cup a couple of times.

Drink with a straw to keep red from getting on your mouth and teeth!

Garnish with a lime (optional)

The science of poetry

When I lived in Auburn (during college), I lived in a complex that attracted some really colorful people.

There was the guy who got dropped off one night because he was too drunk to drive. He went into his apartment and came back out nekkid. He walked down the stairs then scaled the handrail to get back up. Did I mention he was nekkid? (Unfortunately, I missed the show because I was sleeping. It was Sunday night, y'all, and I was probably sleeping off the weekend.)

Then there was the creepy guy who lived across from me who dyed and styled his hair to keep up with Scott Peterson’s ever-changing-at-the-time hair and blasted “Closer” by Nine Inch Nails on repeat every afternoon for a week until the resident manager told him to turn it down because, well, there's only so much "Closer" a girl can take.

And let’s not forget the guy who called me while I was in the check out line at Wal-Mart and asked me where he could BORROW a PACK of CIGARETTES. Riiiight. He also asked if he could buy one of my Rolling Rock’s from me when I only had a six pack. Say it with me y’all: Riiiiight. Oh, my soul!

Then there was the guy who lived a few doors down from me and did crystal meth. You knew he was tweaking when he would knock on your door and ask if you saw anyone hanging out at his apartment the night before.

“No. I don’t remember seeing anyone.”

“Ah! It’s my friends from Greenville playing some practical joke on me. See, what they did was they went to the bait shop and got a bunch of crickets and put ‘em in a pillowcase, then they sealed the windows and around the door, only leaving a little crack, then they let the crickets out and the crickets got stuck in between my walls”

I didn’t have the heart to tell the guy that I didn’t believe him because, first, I didn’t hear the crickets, and, second, there was no such thing as between walls at those apartments, which is why I would have known if there were people outside his apartment in the night. Everyone knew when someone was visiting because it sounded like they were outside your apartment.

There were many other colorful characters, some that deserve their own entire blog, but I have to get to the point of this story.
We were a friendly group of people, especially the guy who did crystal meth and his friends from Greenville. If it was the weekend, his friends from Greenville would be at the complex. I enjoyed sitting outside my apartment, drinking beer, and watching the drunk girls stumble in their stilettos as they crossed the parking lot to go to the club, so I got to be rather friendly with the Greenville crew as they passed by me on their back and forth trips to their big ol’ trucks, where they kept their pony kegs stashed.

Y’all, let us pause and marvel at the invention of the pony keg. Because of the pony keg, we are able to be a travelling keg party. What if our room mate sucks and we want to party? It’s pony keg time, baby! Rock and roll!

One Saturday night, after an awesome football game, I was sitting outside with a friend of mine and the Greenville crew was overflowing my neighbor’s apartment. One of the guys got tired of walking to his truck every five minutes to get another beer, so he eventually just stopped at the mid-way point – my apartment – and started talking to me.

“Yeah. My deddy gave me my own cow and it’s so cool when I come home. She sees my truck coming down the drive and she knows it’s me and she starts running to greet me. I get out of the car and run to her and she just nuzzles her nose in my chest. I got to raise her, you know.”

“So, you live on a farm?” My friend asked.

“Yeah. It’ll be mine some day, if I graduate. My daddy says I have to have my degree before he’ll let me have the farm.”

“What do you major in to be a farmer?”

“Well, I’m majoring in poetry science.”

“What does that have to do with farming?”

“Well, see I don’t really want the whole farm. I really like the chickens.”

He and my friend kept talking and talking about cows and chickens and farming and “poetry” science, and finally he ran out of beer and left.

“I didn't know you could major in poetry," my friend started, "but I still don't understand what that has to do with raising chickens."

Brings new meaning to the term "chick lit", doesn't it, y'all?

(For those of y’all who haven’t figured it out yet, the guy from Greenville was majoring in poultry science.)

Forgive me, did someone say, "Food"?

I have this thing with Halloween food. My traditional Halloween spread consists of pigs in a blanket, chips, dips, drinks, anything that looks good at the grocery store, and, duh!, candy. Once I decided I was too old to go trick-or-treating, I enjoyed getting dressed up and passing out candy to the cute little kids. Since trick-or-treating falls during dinner time, it's tradition to have a snack buffet on Halloween night.

Being in the fall spirit, and having been invited to attend the midnight showing of Rocky Horror, I was in an entertaining mood that Sunday Halloween in 2004.

My neighbor below me came over and her friends showed up. We were having cocktails and I was obsessed with downloading Rocky Horror songs and printing out the audience participation script so I could brush up on my Rocky Horror.

I threw together a costume by adding a pair of cat ears to my standard Long and Leans, black shirt, and black heels outfit.

I taught my guests how to do the "Time Warp."

Being the good, strong, Southern lady I am, I had to serve hors d'oeuvres. And with it being Halloween, I didn't have to think too hard at all about what to serve.

I went to the grocery store and grabbed cocktail smokies, croissant dough, chips, dip, cookies, crackers, cheese and, of course, beer. So easy.

My Nepalese neighbor popped in and I insisted he stay for a while. I was so proud of myself because I knew he could eat everything I was serving. (Since he is Hindu, he doesn't eat beef.)

Or so I thought. So much so, I even told him the food was beef-less.

'Cause cocktail smokies are pork, right?

Nope. They have beef in them.

I found that out a few weeks later, when my Nepalese neighbor and I were in the grocery store together and he told me it was important for him to read the labels because beef is snuck into a lot of foods. Out of curiosity I checked the cocktail smokies.

Sure enough, beef was one of the ingredients.

Y'all, I felt so bad. Not only did I feel bad for disrespect someone's religious beliefs, I felt like a failure as a hostess.

Thankfully, my Nepalese neighbor is a very Zen Hindu, who said, "It's okay. It was an accident. You didn't know. I didn't know. We are forgiven."

Greetings, fellow Auburn fan

In 2004, when my beloved next door neighbor of nearly two years moved out of our complex, I was devastated. But soon, I found out I had a very kind, new, next door neighbor. He was from Nepal and in exchange for me taking him to the grocery story, he would cook Nepalese food for me, with lots of cilantro, just the way I lik(ed) it. (Thank you, Reflux.)

My new neighbor was a graduate student, and not only was he new to Auburn, he was new to the South. He had completed his undergrad in Washington state (or Oregon, somewhere in the Northwest), so I relished explaining to him Southern culture.

One afternoon, we passed each other on the landing we shared, outside our apartments.

"What is this wa-yr eagle I keep hearing?" He asked me. I loved that I was someone he could go to for the right answers about this kind of stuff.

I thought for a moment how to best describe "this wa-yr eagle" business to him. "War Eagle has two purposes. At games, you say, 'Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar Eagle!' as a cheer for the team, and around campus, or wherever you may be, you say, 'War Eagle' to fellow Auburn people, like a greeting."

"I see."

I tell him the story of the Civil War vet who brought his pet eagle to a game, and how the eagle broke loose and circled the stadium, and how we Auburn fans believe that eagle led us to victory that day, and how at the end of the game, that eagle plummeted to the ground and passed away. (I can't bear to say the other word.)

Ever since, we Auburn people use the phrase, "War Eagle!" as a greeting and a cheer for our beloved Auburn Tigers.

"So, that really happened?"

"No duh it really happened!"

He looked a bit bewildered.

"I mean, yes. Yes, the story is true."

War Eagle, Auburn fans.

Greetings from the Plains

Well, y'all, in just a few days, it will be official. I am moving to the loveliest village on the plains, where the eagles soar and the tigers roar: Auburn, Alabama.

I guess this is kind of sudden to most everyone who knows me, but be honest, y'all, it's not that much of a surprise. Is it?

THE MOVE has been in the works for a while now. If I want to be good and Southern about it, and dramatize how long it has been, I'll say since I was moving out of my apartment in Auburn in 2004. Really, though, it's been about two or three years in the making.

After I took my first serious boyfriend down to Auburn one weekend in the early days of our relationship, I knew I wanted to move back there. After my first serious boyfriend and I broke up the first time, I really tried to move back down there, but it wasn't very practical. When I was in the process of looking for my first house, I peeked at properties in Auburn (and I found THE quintessential Auburn home on Samford Avenue - of course, it sold within a matter of days). And within a couple of months of buying my first house - a townhouse in Birmingham's Highland Park - I declared, "If things don't get better in six months, I'm moving to Auburn."

I gave it well over a year before I actually made good on that declaration.

So, here I sit in my hotel room, about to go to bed because tomorrow is a big day: I have the inspection on my condo. If all goes well, I will be moving in a couple of weeks.

So many people ask, "Why Auburn?" I tell them so I can breathe. I'm only half-joking. The air is fresh, people are more than nice, and I need to remove myself from the bad situation that is Birmingham. Plus, I don't know how much more Southern you can get than Auburn.