Our Newest Neighbor

Baby Brady finally decided to make his debut at 4:55 p.m. yesterday weighing in at 7 pounds, 13 ounces. He’s one beautiful baby boy, and I know his mom and dad couldn’t be happier!

Congrats, Ben and Tina! Welcome to the coolest neighborhood in town, kid.

I love my friends!

We have had an abnormally busy few days this past week full of good times with good friends.

Tuesday night we enjoyed dinner out at Pan Asia for Nathan's birthday, Thursday night we got a surprise visit from David during his quick trip home from San Diego, and this weekend we said goodbye to John and Cassidy before they left to go back to Japan AND got to spend two nights with lots of my college friends who were in town for Lauren's baby shower. Whew! It's been a whirlwind, but lots and lots of fun.

Friday night everyone came over for beer and pizza at our house and we let all the husbands visit with each other while the girls reminisced about old times and looked through old college pictures. I think we tell the same stories over and over again every time we get together and it never gets old! I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. Here are a couple of pics from Friday night...

The girls...

The guys...

On Saturday, Brooke came into town and we headed to Lauren's shower at Katie's new house.

The cute little mom-to-be...

And the cutest gift I've ever seen, a camouflage onesie that says "My first tree stand." Only in Mississippi... :)

After the shower, Brooke, Derek and I headed to Katherine's house to go check out Bright Lights, Belhaven Nights for a few hours before dinner at Amerigo's. It was a cool little festival but it was soooo HOT. We left before the sun went down and finally cooled off once we got to the restaurant.

Dinner was fun with all 12 of us, and afterwards we headed back to Katherine's house for some "night swimming" in the baby pool. It was really just an excuse to drink wine in the water and escape the mosquitoes.

It has been a super fun few days, but we are worn out! I enjoyed a wonderfully lazy Sunday afternoon today watching a good Lifetime movie or two in the bed. :)

So, to my friends... Happy Birthday, Nathan! We miss you, David! Sayonara, Cassidy and John! Congrats on the baby, Lauren and Jay! And everybody else, let's do it again soon! I love my friends!

She get it from her mama

Yes, even my cat appreciates Mississippi-made McCarty pottery. She's classy like that.

Glory Days

Today is sorority bid day at my alma matter, which means exactly 10 years ago today, I turned over a new leaf as I transformed from a “rushee” into a “pledge.” Yes, we called everything by its real name back then. That’s before the PC police came after us and made us change it to “recruitment” and “potential new member.”

For some reason the 10-year mark has hit me pretty hard this year, first with my high school reunion and now with the thought that it was a whole decade ago that I started college. Those years just seem to fly right on by, don’t they?

I thought I’d take a trip down memory lane and reminisce about some super fun and not-so-fun memories of sorority rush.

First, let me preface by saying that back in the olden days, we earned our keep by living in Panhellenic… one big, old dorm that housed all the sororities. Each sorority had two floors and one chapter room. These dorms were about 50 years old by the time we moved in, so of course there was all kinds of asbestos hanging out of the ceiling tiles and even a few bats hanging around the top floors, but that’s a whole other story. The girls now live in a posh, five-star “sorority village” complete with Viking appliances, two-person suites with the chapter letters carved into the headboards and their own bathrooms. Yes, I may be a little jealous.

Back to memory lane… here are some things I haven’t missed about rush… 4 a.m. showers to ensure you had the luxury of hot water; lining up for lunch and dinner buffets inside the bathroom (yes, the tables were set up inside the bathroom); bundling up in sweatshirts and blankets to endure the frigid 40-degree temperature inside the chapter room in August; hour after hour of endless discussion and voting based on a two-minute conversation with a nervous teenager; being locked on the same two floors with 80 other girls for a solid week; petty arguing over whether or not to cut an ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend; and the total exhaustion you felt after several nights of three to four hours of sleep at a time.

As for the things I miss… McAlister’s make-your-own potato bar for lunch at least twice in four days; losing my voice by trying to out-yell the other sororities in the stairwell as the rushees moved on to the next party; the total silliness and fun that comes with hours of sleep deprivation; practicing skit over and over and over again until it’s perfect; getting the inside scoop from the Rho Chi’s the next day that everyone thinks your sorority’s skit is the best; honestly spilling your feelings about how much you love these girls during Pref; and the pure excitement of all the new pledges who run into your chapter room on bid day and can’t wait to put on your letters.

It was absolutely one of my favorite college memories, both for the good and the bad. I loved sorority life, and I wouldn’t have traded it for the world. And since I was the official cheer leader (which was a very important job!) my senior year, I’ll leave you with a cheer…

BIM BAM BY DAMN, WE’RE THE GIRLS OF DELTA GAM! FIRED UP, READY TO GO, WE’RE THE GIRLS YOU NEED TO KNOW! LOOK AROUND AND YOU WILL SEE THAT NUMBER ONE IS DELTA GEE!!!!

Congratulations, ladies of Delta Gamma, on another great recruitment! You continue to make us old girls proud! :)

Lazy Weekend

We have enjoyed a completely lazy weekend for the first time in MONTHS and it felt absolutely incredible! Friday night we had a few friends over for drinks on the deck and a little Rock Band, then Saturday the most productive thing we did was go sit in Katherine's baby pool and enjoy some BBQ and spicy chicken legs hot off the grill.

Today we haven't left the house, but the grass is mowed, the house is clean, the laundry is done and I feel like a normal person again. We slept late both mornings and just enjoyed every little thing about being at home. Every now and then there's not a thing wrong with being in your pajamas by 6 p.m. on a Saturday night. Hopefully we'll have a few more of these low-key weekends before life gets busy again. :)

Make new friends, but keep the old

We attempted to start up a new season of our WNDC last night, and we had a great turnout. There were about 12 of us plus one very special guest. Leave it to Derek to make friends with the woman who’s so drunk she doesn’t know her name. Finally she remembered it was Mindy, and she had the hots for our friend, Nathan. She was 49, and she said 27 was the perfect age for her new man.

We left the two alone (see above) so they could get to know each other a little better, and I’m pretty sure it was love at first sight… at least for Mindy it was. She finally decided that Nathan was just too intimidated by her and she moved on to another guy at the next table, but not before trying to trade Derek a piece of her original art for an invitation to his “birthday party” on our deck later that night. Derek politely told her we were having a private party with just some close friends but that it was nice to meet her and thank you for the offer. And it was. She was a lovely woman just lookin for some friends... and some cougar lovin.

I only make friends with taxi drivers. He has me beat on this one…

Happy Birthday, D!!

Today is my sweet husband’s 27th birthday, so for something different this year I took him on a surprise “Destination Unknown” birthday trip. We left Friday morning and headed to Orange Beach for a quick beach weekend and to see Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Bob Dylan in concert at The Wharf.

It was sooooo much fun! My granny and I used to dance around in our nightgowns to Willie in her living room when I’d spend the night with her. I think she’s seen him like 10 times or something crazy like that, so of course I had to call her when he played. Yep, I drunk-dialed my grandmother. Not that she could hear anything he sang or anything I said, but I had to do it… :)

The concert was great and the weather even better… it rained on and off all day Friday and was even raining when we were walking from our car to the amphitheater. Then it cleared, cooled off a bit and had the most beautiful sunset just as Mellencamp took the stage. It was perfect.

Saturday we ate a late breakfast at Tacky Jack’s down the street right on the water as it was raining. We thought it was going to be an ugly day, but then the sun miraculously came out and we were able to get some sun at the beach Saturday afternoon. Here is a pic from Saturday…

We ate dinner at this great little restaurant Saturday night. They had a guy singing with just his guitar outside while we waited (which was a very long time for a table for nine), and he was so much fun! He even gave Derek a birthday shout-out and played Van Morrison’s “Into the Mystic,” which was our wedding song. Our long-awaited table ended up being outside right in front of the guitar guy, so I think we entertained him as much as he entertained us during dinner. Here is a pic from dinner… Katie and Derek were playing a drinking game to "Roxanne." Look at Neilbert... he wasn't amused. :)

Of course, no trip to Orange Beach is complete without a trip to…

THE FLORA-BAMA! I had never been, so it was an experience for me… that place is huge! It was fun, but we were totally worn out from a crazy couple of days and nights, so it wasn’t a super late night for us.

Sunday we left one beach and took the ferry across Mobile Bay to another beach to eat lunch with Meme Lou and PawPaw Billy on Dauphin Island. It was a nice little visit, and she even made Derek a birthday cake. We hit the road about 2 and couldn’t wait to make it home to our own bed. We were totally exhausted, but it was a jam-packed, fun-filled weekend, and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

Happy, Happy Birthday, Derek! I love you and hope you had a great one!