Never Have I Ever...

... Had a slumber party with a bunch of 27- and 28- year-old girls, but I totally recommend it!

Friday night we decided to have a girls' night in honor of Melanie's birthday a few weeks ago and the pending arrival of Baby William next week. We started off with dinner at P.F. Chang's and then all headed to Meredith's house for an old-school slumber party. I think our pregger friends Mel and Jessie were thoroughly entertained and probably pretty annoyed at watching the rest of us drink wine all night - and the wine was plentiful, trust me - but I think everyone had a blast.

Meredith bought Melanie a delicious caramel birthday cake and we even broke out some traditional slumber party snacks, Doritos and popcorn.

We had a little dance party in the living room and, in keeping with the old-school theme, played some fun games like Never Have I Ever. We had plans to play Light As A Feather, Stiff As A Board, but not wanting to risk Baby William making his debut any sooner than planned, we nixed that idea.

It was such a fun night and a tradition that I think we should try to keep up at least once every few months. Hopefully next time everyone can partake in the fun. Love you, girls! :)

Happy (Belated) Birthday, Ryan Hadley!

Sorry for running about a week behind on this, but I left my camera at a friend's house and finally got it back today...

Friday we took off work a little early to make a quick trip to Vicksburg for Ryan Hadley’s birthday party. What fun! I can't believe she's TWO! She's such a big girl... she can even put her own birthday candles on her cake... see above. :)

She is so precious and was so sweet about opening her presents and taking her time playing with each one instead of jumping to the next present. She totally racked up on fun stuff, including a toy cell phone, a real kid-friendly digital camera and a potty chair!

Derek and I gave her a bag full of goodies like Play-Doh, a Sponge Bob toy, a DVD, the Candy Land game, and the xylophone seen below. It’s so much fun to shop for kids, especially when the toys make noise. Ha! I’m sure Zach and Jennifer will repay the favor one day by making sure to give us the LOUDEST, most annoying toys ever made. Ha!

Jennifer’s mom made a delicious cake in the shape of Dora the Explorer, and it was so much fun to visit with family and watch Ryan Hadley enjoy turning two! Happy Birthday, sweet girl!

Survey says...

Saturday afternoon I met some girls from Vicksburg at the movies to see “Bride Wars” and eat dinner at Mint. I heard that movie had gotten some pretty bad reviews, but it was so cute. And of course it’s fun to watch a girly movie like that with a bunch of newlyweds. :)

The theater was PACKED for a 4:30 show, and I felt bad for the few guys that had to suffer through it. It was a total chick flick, and the crowd was pretty similar to "Sex and the City" minus the stampede of girls trying to get in the theater.

I must say dinner was good, but not outstanding or anything. There were 10 of us total, and the atmosphere was very nice. I took Maggie’s dare and ordered the chicken and waffles, which apparently is a Southern specialty, but I don’t know where in the South this dish is popular. It was interesting…. A Belgium waffle and piece of fried chicken covered in syrup. I actually did see it on an episode of “Snoop Dogg’s Fatherhood” on MTV one time, so there you go. Two girls in our group actually took pictures of it because it was that interesting. Seriously. :)

We had a great time, but I think a lot of it had to do with the fellowship rather than the food. And the wine probably had a little something to do with it, too. I will give them credit for having one of the most creative menus out there, though. Their specialty drink menu sounded great, and their dessert menu made my mouth water.

All in all, I think I would give the movie four out of five stars and dinner three out of five stars. But I would give the whole dinner-and-a-movie experience five out of five stars for some quality girl time well-spent. :)

Gotta love some free advertising!

It’s time to start gearing up for Taste of Mississippi, a fundraiser for Stewpot Community Services that I started helping with last year. This is my second year as marketing co-coordinator, and we’re trying a few new social marketing ideas because A) they’re free, B) they seem to be what everybody’s into right now, and C) we’re hoping they’ll be just as effective as paid advertising. We’ll see…

Long story short, this is a wonderful event at Highland Village in March that features specialties from about 40 area restaurants, plus a few from Oxford and Hattiesburg. The food is delish, there’s live music plus more than enough wine vendors sprinkled into the mix, plus there’s a live auction for some REALLY nice art and a silent auction for some items and services that we can actually afford. Last year we bid on a wine-tasting for 12 at home, but unfortunately we didn’t win. Maybe this year…

Last year’s event raised $112,000 for Stewpot, all in one night… Amazing. After the months of planning and marketing the event, it felt really good to be a part of such a great fundraiser. Plus, it was a lot of fun!

So back to the social marketing… We’ve started a Facebook group for fans of Taste of Mississippi, and yesterday I started a blog about the event. I thought that would be a fun way to post news and updates that come from our weekly meetings. And you know how I love to blog! :)

Please check it out, and feel free to leave comments or join as a follower. It’s a wonderful event, and hopefully this will be just another way to spread the word!

May the terrible two's be not too terrible

I can’t believe that it’s been two years since our friends Jennifer, Melanie and Erin all welcomed beautiful baby girls into this world within about a week of one another.

I remember when we said, “Oh, it’ll be so sweet to see them all together only a few months old at Katie’s wedding!” Well, that came and went in May of 2007. I remember when we said, “Oh, it’ll be so cute to see them all together when they’re toddlers!” Well, that came and went last spring.

Now they’re turning two, and I can't wait to see how you three continue to grow into gorgeous little girls. Time is flying by entirely too fast! So Happy Birthday to...

Ryan Hadley,

Jane Reynolds,

and Sydney!!

And to your mothers, here's hoping the two's won't be too terrible. :)

Just call him Marley

Friday night we had a date night with dinner at Biaggi's and then to the movies to go see "Marley and Me." I cried like a baby. I have to tell you, I was really worried about the movie because the book was so great on its own that I didn't think making a movie would do it justice. But I have to say I was pleasantly surprised.

The story of Marley the dog is especially dear to my heart because there was many an occasion that Bentley could have given him a run for his money on the bad dog meter. Derek and I had joint custody of Bent in the beginning, and he would spend one night at my house and the next night with Derek at his parents' house. We did this so that the other could actually get some rest because there was no sleep to be had during puppy duty. And it was wonderful to wake up to the stench of puppy poo in his crate while we were trying to housebreak him. I swear it would smell up the whole house. That's just some nasty mess.

He ate three cell phones, two remote controls, our floor boards, some shoes and no telling how many pairs of panties. I only know this last part because one time we were walking him and he stopped to potty and out came an entire pair. Not chewed up. Swallowed whole.

Enough with the dirty talk... he also chewed through two leashes and just about flunked out of obedience school. It was when he finally jumped through the screen door that my mother-in-law found an excerpt from "Marley and Me" and shared it with us. Derek and I both read the book in a matter of days, and it soon became a favorite in the Grey family. :)

Bentley has grown into a wonderful dog who loves us more than anything. I know he'll be incredible with kids one day, and we cherish every day spent with this slobbery giant of a Golden Retriever. Our lives definitely wouldn't be the same without him, and looking back, the hard times were well worth it and they sure make for great stories.

We love you, Bent.

A new year

Happy 2009! We started the new year off a bit rough yesterday with a six-hour search for the cat. I think she jetted out the front door at some point New Year's Eve with all the activity (that's what we get for being responsible and staying in the neighborhood to party.)

We searched everywhere shaking the bag of food as we went and yelling for her, and I had just about given up and accepted the fact that she might not come back (many, many tears, trust me) when I spotted her out of the corner of my eye. She was in the neighbor's yard and couldn't figure out how to get back over the fence. I yelled for Derek and he hopped the fence barefoot to get her. She was a little traumatized and seemed to be glad to be back home, although exhausted from her adventure, I'm sure. I, of course, cried some more with a mix of anger, frustration and relief. Whew! Not a good start to the new year, but at least she's home now. She usually doesn't stray too far from her silver food bowl.

She slept on our bed all afternoon, and Bentley didn't let her out his sight for long the rest of the day. You could tell he actually did miss her, so that was sweet. They definitely have a love-hate relationship, but yesterday it was all love.

Anyways, back to New Year's Eve... New Orleans just about took it all out of us, so we decided to keep NYE low-key and stay close to home. Our neighbors across the street had a party, and it ended up being quite a late night between the dance party in the living room, some snowboarding and tight-rope-walking on Wii Fit and the tasty but way too strong punch they made called Sweet Ghetto Romance. Classy, I know. Here are a few pics from the night...

Oh, did I mention that Neighbor Ben's going to be a daddy? They found out on Monday, his 30th birthday, so 2009 will definitely be a memorable one for them. :)

So here's to the new year... may it be the best year yet!!