Ringin' in the New Year @ the Gator Bowl

Okay-so I'm starting to catch up! We're up to New Year's now!

We had a fabulous New Years, as we headed down I-10 with many other Bulldawg Fans to watch the Gator Bowl. At first we were a little dissapointed that we didn't go to the Peach Bowl, but our 2.5 hours drive compared to a 5.5 hour drive to Atlanta was quite nice.

We arrived in Jacksonville just in time for the Gator Bowl Parade, which was actually much bigger than I expected. We got to see the Famous Maroon Band and it was awesome hearing the cowbells echo through the downtown streets. (Our opponent was Michigan, so not too many folks made the long haul to the Sunshine State. P.S. Michigan fans now hate cowbells.)

I was pumped up about New Year's Eve, because we got to get all dressed up and go to the "Dawg Pound Party" which was at a really nice convention center. We got to see several of our friends, which was a great time. I have been complaining for the last two New Years that we have stayed home. The party was great, but to be honest, I missed our homemade New Years complete with bottle rockets, sparklers, roman candles, and tanks (my childhood favorite.)

So on New Year's morning we were up & at em ready for our Gamdeday Breakfast. (We stayed at an adorable Bed & Breakfast for which Jeremie got big points for. ) We ate with some very nice Michgan fans and met some fellow Dawgs, Mr. & Mrs. Thad Harrell, who we are forever grateful to. See, Thad had a parking pass, but no clue how to get to the stadium. So he struck a deal with J that we could ride with them and take advantage of this extremely close parking as long as J drove their car to get us there. As crazy as it sounds, jumping in the car with people we only met 15 mintues prior is not strange for me and J. I mean, we still vacation with people we met on our honeymoon....(Love ya Bart & Jen!)

Anyway, so we make it to the stadium in about 15 minutes and wave to the other people in miles of traffic paying $150 to park 2 miles away.

Now-let's get to the important stuff-we DOMINATED the Wolverines. They left with their tail between their legs. It was incredible. The scoreboard says it all...

The was definately MORE COWBELL. Thanks to Cate for my new favorite MSU Shirt.

And after a long game and lots of cheering, we definitely needed some R&R at the B&B......

By the way.....this place was called The Inn at Oak Street if you are ever in Jacksonville and want a great place to stay. It was the true Bed & Breakfast experience with all modern amenities. And in a trendy neighborhood with lots of restaurants and shops......

Psalm 119:11

Jeremie and I helped with a youth retreat for our church this past weekend called Disciple Now. (Will do full post later.) The curriculum was a kick off to a 13 week program for memorizing scripture-1 verse per week. Memorizing scripture is definitely something I need to work on, so I am looking forward to the challenge.

This week's verse:

"I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you."

-Psalm 119:11

Okay-So I realize this is my 3rd Post about Christmas, I'm getting there......

Another fun even we went to was the Lawnmower Parade in Havana, which is a small quaint little town about 10 minutes away. It was HILARIOUS. There was a band, arts & crafts booths, and the main feature was the parade. The parade solely consisted of lawnmowers & golf carts, which, mind you, were judged SEPARATELY. As you can see, some people went all out and others...well I think just pulled out of the yard, threw some tinsel on the ole Snapper, and headed to town. : )






Manny had a good time in Havana, and if it were up to him, he would have been in the parade. The more attention the better.

Anyway, Christmas was fabulous. We were blessed to have a few days with our families to catch up and have some real quality time. Hunting with Dad, shopping with mom, and lots of time by the fire made it complete. My dad makes the best fires and my mom makes the best taco soup, so you see why we love going home. : )

Below: Jeremie and I on Christmas Day-how appropriate. I have on pink MSUgetup and J has on flannel pajama pants that have bulldogs on them and say "Bah Humbug."

Other family fun.......

And what is Christmas Day without a nap?.......

So one of my goals while I was home was to clean out my closet. I spent 16 wonderful years in the pink room on Luther Carter Road. Therefore, there was still "debris" left in the closet from my childhood, and I was getting a strong feeling that Mom & Dad had better plans for the extra space. Cleaning out a closet sounds about as boring as watching paint dry, but honestly, it was a blast. Mom sat on the bed and watched the fun. I found SO MUCH STUFF from my childhood. Let's just say I had a thing for stuffed animals and had a large BIN full of any species you could think of. Cows. Sheep. Cats. Penguins. Sharks. Gophers. Giraffes. Squirrels. Donkeys. Polar bears. Moose. If that isn't sad enough, I remembered most of their names and where each animal came from. The most special was finding Simba, who was my favorite and went everywhere with me. He is now at Jeremie's parents' house making friends with his favorite childhood stuffed animal, Monkeyshine.

The picture below is just a select few that I could fit in my arms. I also want to point out the unicorn poster, porcelain doll, and china for my "hope chest" in the background. My room was the traditional girl's room. It was pretty fun taking a step back in time.

I was pretty sad that Christmas was over and it was time to take down all the pretty decorations.....Till next year.

My Valentine

So yesterday was none other than Valentines Day. I'm a helpless romantic and love Valentine's Day! Jeremie sent me beautiful flowers at work that I am still enjoying!

J also cooked fabulous steaks, potatoes, & veggies, and had chocolate AND key lime pie. A hubby after my own heart. A few years ago I tried to bake a fresh strawberry cake for J. One word: DISASTER. Ladies-if you remember the movie Sleeping Beauty when the 3 Fairy God Mothers were trying to bake the birthday cake-this was the exact situation. The layers were sliding off and the frosting wasn't even worth eating. (Yes, I ruined frosting.) So probably a great idea to let J handle the desserts.

Anyway-we used our lovely Vietri china and lit candles. It was a wonderful and relaxing Valentines. Couldn't imagine it any other way. I am ONE. LUCKY.GIRL.

Just Catching Up....

Okay-so I do realize it's the middle of FEBRUARY and I haven't even blogged about Christmas. But, I have no shame-I love Christmas so much I will still blog.

Another party we hit up was our Sunday School Christmas party, which was a tacky sweater party. It was incredible!!! I went to Goodwill and picked out some fabulous Christmas sweaters.....apparently J didn't feel like he was tacky enough, because he stole some plastic snowflakes off a wreath and SEWED them to the sweater in a Christmas tree shape. And added some bells. (It was awesome to watch him shake & jingle.) He almost won the tacky contest, but got beat out by Jessica, who rocked a puff paint sweatshirt and side pony tail. I think he's already planning next year. We had a great time and the party was complete with lots of food and a rousing game of Christmas Carol Pictionary, Boys Vs. Girls. No matter what you hear, the girls dominated.

Before Jeremie and I left for our Mississippi Christmas, we hosted our own Wells Family Christmas. We opened our gifts and gave Mannylicious his stocking stuffers. His stocking consisted of Pupperoni and 5 dog toys. We layed them on the floor, and one by one, he played with them for about 10 minutes. He loved his first Christmas. We had a blast. I love my little family.

I also want to talk about our Christmas tree for a minute. My fab friend Meg posted about some special Christmas ornaments, so I will copy her idea, if she approves. (Said approval will be requested later. She was my Matron of Honor.....she can't leave me now.)

Ornament #1: The Engagement Ornament. Sweet Mary Perry sent me this ornament shortly after J and I got engaged in 2008. I love it.

Ornament #2: The Newlywed Ornament. I bought this ornament for our first Christmas and forced J to put it on the tree WITH me our first Christmas. He of course agreed last year, but stayed on the couch this year. The things we do for love.

Ornament #3: The Wedding Cake. Jeremy Ely's mom gave us this ornament for our wedding. It is gorgeous. And delicate. Therefore, contrary to Ornament #2, J is not allowed to touch this ornament.

Ornament #4: Biltmore Santa. I bought this on our vacay last year at the Biltmore. I decided that I would buy a Christmas ornament as a souvenir when we travel to cool places.

Ornament #5: Christmas Manny. I mean, our dog had his own stocking, he had to have an ornament. DUH.

Ornament #6: Meet Mr. Mouse. This used to be an ornament, but it's so old the string fell off Mr. Mouse's top hat, so he was sort of "nestled" in the tree. Mr. Mouse was my FAVORITE ornament as a child. I have no idea where he came from or why I was so obsessed with a mouse with a top hat. But then again, I also don't know why I wore platinum colored pleather pants in 7th grade......the things we do as kids.....

I can't wait to add more special ornaments to our tree as the years go by.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!!!!

Well, the time is here and it's no secret that I LOVE Christmas. The Monday after we returned from Thanksgiving holiday, we set up our tree. I do love that my hubby insists on a real tree. It is fun to pick out and makes the house smell great. I used to chastise my own poor mother when she began using an artificial tree. I grew up 4 miles from a Christmas tree farm so each year, my family would go "stake our claim" on the best tree on the farm each year. As we got older, it was harder to get everyone in the same place at the same time. Then one year Dad cut down a tree from our yard to serve as the Taylor Family Tree. Well, trees look much smaller in the outdoors, but when we brought it in, it was probably 19 feet tall. So we had to cut some of the top off, which resembled more of a Christmas bush than a tree. So my mom finally resolved to the fact that that a 1-2-3-TREE was the way to go, and at times I don't blame her.

Since I had a Christmas shower before we got married, I was already hooked up with all things Christmas. I LOVE getting all this stuff out, and believe it or not, for those of you out there....I remember what you gave me, so thank you!

This weekend we went to an event called Camillia Christmas in Maclay Gardens, which is a park here in town. It is beautiful with the enormous live oaks lazily hanging down the paths that were lined with candles. They served hot apple cider and had carolers. The you ride back to where you parked on a trolley and all the kids in our trolley broke out singing Christmas carols. Adorable.

Saturday I went to a Christmas tea sponsored by the ladies ministry at our church, which was incredible. Hung out with some special friends and heard a great speaker who really put things in perspective about Christmas.

Disclaimer: Mary & Meg-no, you have not been replaced. It's just a coincidence that I have a red headed and blonde friend here in Tally!

Saturday night was a Christmas party at our friends John & Susie's and the theme was COOKIES. Yes. My kind of party. Everyone brought a different kind of cookie so I gained approximately 12 pounds.

I just love this time of the year and what it means. I do love the parties, decorations, and all the hoop-la, but the feeling of JOY seems contagious this time of year. What more to celebrate that God sent HIS son to dwell among us and teach us His ways.

Dawgs Vs. Cats

Jeremie and I also traveled to Starkvegas for the Kentucky game on Halloween weekend. Great time. It was great to tailgate with Mom, Dad, Amy and Mr. & Mrs. Jones. We finally made it close enough during the Dawg Walk to high five the players & coaches. That's right, Brignone, Relf, Ballard.....and my personal favorite, Manny Diaz. Best looking, I mean, best coaching Defensive Coordinator out there. J said that I more clutched his hand than high fived it.

Notice the FOCUSED look on Mullen's face. He's the man.

Tailgating never gets old....I just love how serious SEC fans are about their tailgating....check out the "graveyard" that included tombstones of teams we beat so far......

The weekend included a big win, cheesesticks, Shipley's donuts and a trip to the lodge. Good stuff.