2nd weekend trip

This Friday night as soon as the work day ends, we start the 2nd of our weekend trips.  This time we’re headed 4 hours north to the Chicago suburbs and for an exciting weekend of college football.  D’s alma mater, Michigan State is taking on Northwestern at 11 am Saturday and the two of us, along with D’s aunt, uncle and cousins have tickets to the game.  It’s my first college football experience and I’ve got my MSU green and white ready to go, along with all of my thermal wear too.  The high Saturday is supposed to be a sunny 25.  Wowza!  When D’s uncle asked if we wanted to tailgate before the game or go to breakfast and while tailgating sounded like a lot of fun, it was a no brainer for me….keep me warm for as long as possible and I wasn't the only one thinking that, so breakfast it is!  D may have been the only one really wanting to tailgate.  Of course, he is from Michigan after all, cold means nothing to him.  :)
This is potentially a big game for the Spartans as they hope to make it to the Big 10 Championship game in December so I'm extremely excited to go and experience the college football vibe, plus it's always fun to spend time with D's family.  And, you can bet I'll be rooting for Sparty no matter how many layers I have to wear to be comfortably warm at the game.
 

Holiday splurge

Today I splurged and got myself an early Christmas present and a $2k present at that.  I know, I know...buying a present that expensive is crazy, especially buying it for myself! 

I had to leave work early today in order to make sure all the logistics worked out and to get phase one completed before the actual product will be officially delivered December 17th.
After 4 hours of sitting back, wearing sunglasses and listening to the soothing sounds of the dental equipment, the dentist finished my root canal, made molds of my tooth for my bright, shiny, new porcelain crown, and fitted my temporary plastic one that I get to wear for the next 4 weeks.
Honestly, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, although I would have rather spent 4 hours somewhere other than the dentist office.  Thankfully though, after this crazy long appointment, the only other major dental work I seem to be facing is getting my wisdom teeth removed.  Yes, I'm nearly 31 and still have my wisdom teeth and really those pesky teeth are the reason why I had to have this root canal.  I'm saving that fun task for next year because obviously I've already spent enough on Christmas.

1st of the weekend trips

Two years ago I was fortunate to take a girls' trip to Mississippi to see one of the most awesome bands perform a benefit concert for their Better Life Foundation.  It was one of the greatest concerts I've ever been to and I vowed to myself that if I could, I'd try to make it to each year after.  Unfortunately last year, I was unable to take the 4.5 hour trip South because I couldn't get anyone else to commit to going with me.  It bummed me out that I had to stay home but I felt it was for the best.
Shortly after D and I started dating, I told him about the concert and how much fun that weekend was and we talked about trying to go if we had that weekend open.  For the last 10 or so months, I periodically checked the foundation's website to see if the date had been set and more importantly checked to see when and if tickets had gone on sale.
Finally, 6 weeks ago, I was scanning my Twitter news feed and found the golden ticket.  The concert would be November 16th and tickets went on sale the next day.  I was beyond excited because I knew we had that weekend free and I was fairly certain D would agree this would be a great weekend getaway.  Sure enough, when we got home from work and I told D the news, he told me to go ahead and get tickets.
Since that day, I have been patiently waiting for this weekend!

Tomorrow morning, we're headed South so D can experience the amazing band for himself.  We do have a mini game plan for the trip down as well.....stopping in at another Diners, Drive Ins and Dives featured restaurants in Memphis.  It's a place I visited with my Mom and Michael when we took our mini Spring Break trip last year.
Yep, we're going to experience that Sweet Spicy Love from Uncle Lou's Fried Chicken.  Seriously it is the best fried chicken I've ever eaten and while I try to eat healthy most of the time, I will splurge for some Uncle Lou's.  So delish!

After an insane week of work, I'm so ready to hit the road and have some fun!

Happy Birthday Cuz!!

My sweet Nicole turns 17 today!
Saturday night the fam went to dinner to celebrate her upcoming birthday.  There were ten of us at one of our favorite Mexican spots.  Here are a few pics of our celebration:

Celebrating 17!

The restaurant staff sang to her!

I think she was more embarrassed with us singing!

This girl loves her St. Louis Blues!

Cousins with the same taste in shoes! OMG!

I'm not quite sure where the last 17 years have gone and I still remember the day she was born like it was yesterday.  She's been my little buddy since day one and was lucky enough to get to live with her and watch her grow up on a daily basis while I was in college.  Now she's a mature high school junior who is not only super smart but also level-headed, responsible, mature and a popular young lady.  She's doing so many great things and I'm so proud of her.  I can't wait to see what the next 17 years brings! (I just hope they don't go as fast as these 17 have...I've aged enough already!)  In any case....

Happy Birthday Girlie!  I hope you enjoy your day to the fullest!!

The start of the holiday shopping spree

With the next 3 weekends in November booked solid and knowing the holidays are quickly approaching, D and I decided that this weekend is as good as any to start our Christmas shopping.  Typically I'm the one that thinks of gift ideas, starts a budget and tackles all of the shopping for both sides of my family.  This year, we're going to shop together.
D's first request for our join effort -- create a spreadsheet to track all of our gift ideas and purchases. Yes, we're going the high tech route this year, not my typical sheet of notebook paper with scribbled thoughts and places to shop.  Next, we ordered gift cards with D's credit card points and started our online shopping efforts.
Yesterday we headed out to the mall, Kohls, Target and Walmart and made a small dent in the list.  The stores were crowded already and I know its only going to get worse as the days and weeks pass and that December deadline looms.  I may give physical shopping one more go around but beyond that, I'm not sure I have the patience for the stores.