Thanksgiving Break :)

I am so lucky to get the entire week off of work for Thanksgiving, so I jumped at the chance to go home for as long as I could.  I flew home on Monday morning, while Gaines stayed and worked until Wednesday.  Monday and Tuesday were spent catching up with my parents, Christmas shopping with my mom, drinking lots of Starbucks, getting mani/pedis, hanging out with Tucker, and grabbing dinner with three of my best friends.   

Sammy came in late Tuesday night, so on Wednesday we picked up Dales from the train station and then headed to the river.  We had Gaines' favorite meal waiting on him when we walked in the door...

Kidding.  That was the appetizer before dinner. ;) 

On Thanksgiving the men got up really early to hunt with the Quinns, so mom, Dales, and I drank coffee, watched the Macy's Day Parade, and starting cooking.  We just kind of hung out the rest of the day and then then enjoyed an amazing Thanksgiving dinner.  No one quite does Thanksgiving like my mom. :)  We also made our annual Turner/Quinn football pool for the Cowboys vs. Raiders game, and I am proud to say that we finally pulled out a family win! 

On Friday we did a lot of hanging out, as well as preparing for the annual Harbour House Oyster Roast.  I hate that I didn't get any pictures, but we had a great time shucking oysters, eating Marvin's homemade Brunswick stew, and catching up despite the cold, windy weather.

We headed back to Richmond on Saturday, did a little more Christmas shopping, and then spent the rest of the night by the fire watching college football.  

It was such a great trip and I loved every second.  Only 7 more days until we head back again. :) 

Parnell Wedding

The night after the AXO reunion I came home to attend the wedding of our good friends Jennifer and Danny.  Gaines was at the coast that weekend on the annual Story Father/Son Fishing Trip, so it was the first wedding I've attended solo...unless you count going as Jason and Caroline's third wheel. ;)  The wedding ceremony and reception were held at Perry's Landing in Hepzibah, which is a gorgeous, rustic venue about twenty minutes from our house.  The weather was beautiful, the food was great, and the newlyweds were so adorable! 

Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Parnell! 

Baby Basketball

I saw this video the other night and just thought it was too cute not to share. :)

Happy Tuesday! 

AXO Reunion

I was so fortunate to make the best group of girlfriends through AXO in college.  Most of us lived in the house together for two years and then lived next door to each other senior year.  We shared so many wonderful memories through the years- from socials and datenights in college to bachelorette parties and weddings after- so I just couldn't contain my excitement when we planned a little five-year reunion dinner in Atlanta a few weeks ago.  We all met at Seven Lamps near Lenox Mall and spent almost four hours sipping wine, catching up, and laughing over old stories.  A few of us ended the night with drinks at Pool Hall complete with dancing on benches just like in our glory days.  It's always nice to know that nothing changes. ;)

circa 2008

I am so thankful to call this group of friends mine, and I can't wait for our next reunion! 

UGA vs. App State

A few weekends ago we headed back to the best city in the world to watch our beloved Dawgs play Appalachian State.  There is just nothing better than driving into Athens and feeling that overwhelming sense of excitement.  Everywhere you turn there are smiling faces in red and black and just about every where we go it seems like a million memories come flooding back.  We tailgated with our good friends Bo and Christey and their sweet daughter Dailey, as well as Gaines' adorable cousin Jessica and her boyfriend Seth.  We ended up scoring great seats (for free!) from someone in town and even got to meet up and watch half the game with one of my best friends from college MC and her husband Martin (plus their baby girl on the way!).  We ended up winning 45-6, which wasn't terrible either. ;)  We had a great dinner at Mellow Mushroom followed by some drinks at a few of our old stomping grounds and then headed home the next day.

Glory, glory to 'ole Georgia!

Sammy's Visit

Two posts in the same week! Are you surprised? ;)  

Sambo came into town for the Burke County TOTY Recognition Night, and we were so excited that he stayed through Sunday.  We made a big breakfast on Saturday morning and then headed out to the farm to show him around and shoot skeet across the pond.  The weather was just gorgeous, and it felt so good to be outside.  Later in the afternoon we went over to Amanda and Robert's to watch the Georgia/Florida game with friends and their precious daughter Emma.  Her smile, her personality, her chevron pants...She is just the cutest thing! We had so much fun, and thankfully won the game.  Way to go dawgs! 

I don't know who was more sad to see Sambo go....me or Molly. ;) 

TOTY Recognition

I'm baaaaack! It's been way too long and way too busy at school, but I finally uploaded a ton of pictures to my computer, so hopefully I'll be much better about updating more.  ;) 

I was trying to think back about where I left off (which was over a month ago...yikes!), and since we didn't really do anything for Halloween except hand out candy I'll pick back up at the Burke County Teacher of the Year Recognition Night on November 1st.  There were five TOTYs from each of the schools in the county and they held a really sweet dinner for us, our families, and our principals during the first half of the high school football game.  At half time we were escorted onto the field by our principals (and if you don't already know I just adore my principal!) and given really cute monogrammed bags and goodies.  Then, they announced the county TOTY, who is the chorus teacher at one of the elementary schools (she's standing next to me in the picture below and her brother is actually in Lady Antebellum...how cool is that?!).  

It was a great night, and I was so thankful to be able to celebrate it with my family!