What's up

Life has been pretty "normal" around our house here lately. I use parentheses because I constantly have to remind the families I work with that there is no "normal." Just thought I'd share this life lesson in case you forgot. After our trips around the world starting in November, Kyle and I have tried our best to stay at home and appreciate life in Birmingham.

We have celebrated my birthday with a nice dinner at Chez Fon Fon. Dressing up for a nice dinner gave us the chance to pull out one of Kyle's Christmas gifts. My sister gave Kyle a gorillapod from L.L. Bean which is a flexible tripod that mounts a digital camera just about anywhere. Basically, we can take a picture of us without asking someone else to take it. 

                    Prom pose

                       27!!! Woop, woop!!!

One weekend Kyle went hunting so my sister came in town (to babysit me). We pretty much chilled. It was nice having my sister around. Whenever she's in town we always take a trip to the Summit to shop and hit some of her favorite spots in Birmingham to eat. Taziki's Friday specials were a must.

Trust me. That's a Styrofoam box full of deliciousness. It's a bed of lettuce with penne pasta, grilled chicken, roma tomatoes, fresh basil and feta crumbles covered in this amazing balsamic dressing. The killer is that they only sell it on the weekends. Used to just be Fridays...hence the name "Friday special." If we ever move from Birmingham I'll be sad to part from Tazikis (along with a few other of my favorite restaurants).

Other than shopping, eating and watching movies, my sister (little Martha) helped me make my first pound cake. We spent Saturday morning at Wal Mart getting the ingredients and Saturday afternoon making the cake. I'll have to admit, my sister is a pretty good instructor. I can be a tough one to teach in the kitchen. Long story short...the pound cake was a flop. The actual cake batter I made turned out fine. We unfortunately put the batter into a pan with an area where the batter could slowly ooze out and that it did...all over the bottom of my oven. Being the perfectionist that I am...I freaked. One, my cake didn't turn out and two, my oven now had to be cleaned. Looks like I'll have to try my hands at baking once again...by myself.

Other than that, we've just been living. Work has been really busy for me which is a good thing. I actually have some clients that want to do what I call "real therapy" instead of sitting on their couches complaining and barking orders at their miserable 12 year old. Plus, my spring semester of school has started with full speed. It's my last "real" school semester before I take comprehensive finals this summer and then (fingers, toes and everything else crossed) I will begin my 4 semester period of dissertation writing. Lots of hurdles to cross before then. I'm currently planning two baby showers and a bachelorette gathering that will lead into two babies and a wedding this spring and summer. Can't wait to post about all those events.

Also, our 1 year anniversary is coming up. Whoa, time really does fly by when you're too busy to even think when you are in love. Awww.

#14

UA vs LSU round 2 proved to be a better game than the first. Obviously, this news is about a week old but it has taken me about this long to recover from our trip to New Orleans. I'll admit, I was hesitant about making the 5 hour drive down to only get harassed again by LSU fans again BUT this time the ending was a little different. Kyle and I have both been to New Orleans several times but this trip will probably be one of the most memorable for both of us.

One of the reasons we made the trip to New Orleans was that it was also an excuse to visit my pledge sister/great gal pal, BJ (Brittany Jones) and her husband, Michael. BJ is a native New Orleans gal and one of the first people to extend the hand of kindness and be my friend at Alabama. She introduced me to sushi and taught me how to party like a gal who "grew up on Bourbon." BJ and Michael live in Mandeville which is about 30 minutes from New Orleans. We stayed with them Saturday and Sunday then at a hotel in New Orleans on Monday night (thanks to Michael). Saturday, we arrived (with the millions of other Alabama fans on the road) in Mandeville. After touring the Brunner's home and visiting with their new dog, Hollis, we ventured out to Old Mandeville and had a couple of drinks overlooking Lake Ponchetrain.

Sunday, we drove into New Orleans for the afternoon. We had lunch and took in the sites. New Orleans is one of my favorite cities to visit. The food, the architecture, the ambiance...New Orleans has it all. This particular weekend, New Orleans had A LOT Alabama and LSU fans. The rivalry was intense and literally had the whole city a buzz.  

I must give a disclaimer. Yours truly decided to wear a tiger/leopard print shirt the weekend of the LSU game. LSU= tigers. Yeah...stupid. I confused a bunch of people. Whatever, I did get a lot of compliments on it. I asked Kyle why he let me wear the shirt and he said I looked happy wearing it and didn't want to cause a fashion meltdown. Ha, good call. He still joked on me.

Our day in New Orleans was concluded with a walk through Harrah's where we bumped into this guy, Elli Gold who yes, called me out on being a BAMA fan wearing tiger print.

Monday we headed back into New Orleans for game day. You could feel the excitement/tension in the air. We walked up and down Bourbon Street for a bit then headed to the Warehouse district to watch the game at The Rusty Nail (New Orleans' Alabama Alumni bar). 

While it would have been nice to have tickets to the game, watching the game with a couple hundred Alabama fans at The Rusty Nail was (in our opinion) the next best thing. The energy and spirit made watching the game so exciting! During all of the commercial breaks the crowd was doing Alabama cheers, singing the fight song and keeping our fingers crossed that the Tide would keep  holding the Tigers back from winning. Words cannot express the crowd when the game finally ended. Kyle and I laugh at the fact that the win made everyone feel like best friends.

        Our view of the game

          BAMA's #1

After the win, we made the victory walk back to Bourbon (harassing the LSU fans along the way) and celebrated. BCS champs baby!!! The win made the 5 hour drive back a lot easier. Roll Tide Roll!!

NYE Weekend-Hunting Camp Style

This year for New Years we went to my friend, Ferrill's hunting camp for the second time. The camp is located between Montgomery and Selma and was an easy 2 hour drive from our house. Going to Ferrill's camp is such a treat. Not only is the camp located on some great hunting land, the lodge isn't too shabby itself. I'll begin with a tour of the lodge.

In my opinion, what is so nice about the lodge is that the inside is nicely decorated and comfortable. You can tell Ferrill's parents put a lot of time and thought into making the place a nice get away for visitors. I jokingly say, "this ain't no hunting trailer."

So now that you've seen the digs, here's a recap of the wonderful weekend. Ferrill and her hubby Rob invited 6 couples down. Including Ferrill and Rob, there were 7 couples, 1 three year old, and 4 dogs. We mainly spent the weekend chilling out, eating, hunting and enjoying the beautiful weather. The couples were a mix of both Ferrill's and Rob's friends; so it was a nice chance to make new friends and catch up with the old friends. We got down to the camp Friday evening. That night we had hamburgers and a BUNCH of other appetizers. We all joked that weekend that we brought enough food to feed an army.

           Me and John (Sarah's hubby)

All the cool gals were wearing TOMS

As I mentioned earlier, part of the party crew included a 3 year old named, Chappell. Chappell is the daughter of my sorority sister Holland and her hubby Reed. Ferrill and Holland are life long friends from Pensacola and Ferrill is Chappell's godmother. Chappell has to be one of THE cutest, most entertaining little kids I've ever been around. Seriously, everyone was obsessed with her. She has a wonderful personality that kept us laughing and in my opinion is a "cool" three year old. Chappell left with her parents on Sunday and we were all sad to see her go. It was really dull there without her.

Pretty much the life of the party

Saturday morning began bright and early with some of the boys (including Kyle) duck hunting. Three ducks and a beaver were killed. Obviously, I'm not a boy but the gals often commented that the hunting camp is basically a man's paradise. Saturday morning/afternoon were spent outside. Doing a lot of this...

and that...

     We gals kept that back porch occupied.

After their hunt, the boys pulled the guns back out and from what I can described shot at anything and everything. Basically the testosterone was a flowin'. Like I said before, "Man Heaven."

The gals eventually made their way off the porch and joined the men.

This hot mama showed us what she was really made of and decided to shoot a gun. Sarah's definitely a redneck at heart. Who else shoots a gun while pregnant...redneck lady?

I decided I couldn't let Sarah out do me and became a redneck lady myself. I shot a gun (for the first time). Personally, guns scare me. I just don't like them. Never have. I basically did it for Kyle. Here's the proof:

I shot the gun and immediately said, "I don't like it." Kyle was still proud.

Some of the gals took a walk around the property after the gun expo. It was a gorgeous day.

When we got back from our walk we found the boys continuing to do what they did best...shoot guns. See the continuing trend?!

After spending the afternoon shooting guns, the boys went hunting. Again. Here's my hunky hubby dressed in camo on the back of a truck. He's classy like that.

Saturday night we rang in 2012. One of the guests received a turkey fryer for Christmas so we decided to fry up anything in sight. Items on the menu included: Fried chicken, deer meat, pickles, beignets and oreos. Here's the proof...

We sat around the fire pit, shot fireworks and enjoyed adult beverages.

We took the party inside after the firework show. I'll admit, I had to watch the ball drop on t.v. with Dick Clark. Many years were spent watching the crystal ball drop while sippin' on sparkling grape juice with my sister. Pretty sure my parents used to convince me that when the ball dropped it was midnight at home as well. Ugh, so gullible. 

The remainder of the evening was spent playing a game that involved an empty bottle of champagne and cards. The late night crew had a lot of fun. 

We ended up staying Sunday night along with Ferrill and Rob and another couple. We were pretty lazy that day. The guys hunted some and I went on a 4-wheeler ride with Kyle to check out the hunting land. We had a wonderful weekend and all decided that keeping this tradition up is a must! Here's to 2012!