Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Me and the Colts.. we go way back.

If you are my amigo(a) on Facebook, you may or may not have seen a few days back where I posted that I do, in fact, Have The best. Friends. Ever.  Well let me explain why.  My friends know me and they know what I love. When it comes to football, I love the Colts. Not because I'm from Indiana (which I'm not) or because I'm distantly related to the Mannings (which I'm not)... I just love them because I chose them as my team way back in middle school or something. AND I am no fair weather fan! (0-6 season...)   Yeah, we've been a really solid team for years now and this is a really really bad year. Doesn't matter: they are my team. I love them still. (Maybe with the exception of Curtis Painter, he just makes me angry).  Now, I knew before this season ever started that the Colts would be playing just 4 hours from me in New Orleans in October. But, there was no way I was going to be able to buy tickets... The "cheaper" tickets online still cost over $200 each. It just wasn't happening.  My sister told me about a pair she could get me back a couple months ago, but that set was $500.  Again, not happening.  So, I resigned myself to the notion of ever getting to go to this game..

That was until the week of the game, my dear friend Chelsea asked me if I could come down to New Orleans the weekend of the game.  (Chelsea lives in Slidell now, just about 20 minutes outside the city.)  She told me she knew a season ticket holder with 2 extra tickets for this game.  I quickly asked, "how much??" to which she responded, "Doesn't matter.. can you come?"  :)    Yes!   She said "Happy Birthday!"   

Best. Friends. Ever.

The Following pictures are a record of our experience at the game. 


Getting ready to hit the road!
 Almost to the city

See there it is.
 I stuck out in the crowd pretty good...


 Best seat in the house!  ;)
 Curtis Painter running back into the locker room.. Why do you ahve to be so terrible, Paiter?? WHY!?
 At least the hotdogs had the right idea!!!
 Ben would not wear his nice Cobalt Blue polo... Sell out...
 Peyton is in this one.  45 Yd Line. Jeans. Blue Hat. I was so star struck. For real.
 The Saints' grand entrance.  They put on a pretty good show.

 Coin Toss.
 Southern Univ. Band being Patriotic before gametime

 Saints Backwards.
 We... excuse me... I was totally outnumbered of course, but I still had a great time.  Well, except for the whole record-setting loss thing... I still got to see some of my favorite guys play in real life.  It will be better next year.

Can I also just say that those Saints fans have just completely lost their minds! They are so much fun at a game.  And not one of them threw jumbalaya at my face :)
 Superdome lit up at night.


Ok, so that was such a fun night that I got to spend with my husband in New Orleans. All because of a great friend who is completely selfless and loves to bring joy to her friends and those around her. If only the rest of the world were as thoughtful!  Love you Chels!!!

Stay tuned as I bring you the rest of our weekend in blog form! 

Friday, October 7, 2011

A Beautiful Day- Congratulations Keith and Jeanna!

I mentioned in my last post that Ben and I would be heading south for a wedding this past weekend.  Well, we did.  I'm here today to tell you a little about it.  I do have a couple of pictures, but the sad part of the story is... I forgot to include my memory stick in the camera, thus limiting myself to 8 photos. Tragedy.  The happy news is, the lovely couple did, in fact, still "tie the knot" (literally) in spite of the absence of my camera's memory device. I'll go ahead and show you the 8 photos :) Along with some commentary of course...

The happy couple consisted of Ben's first cousin and his bride.  Keith and Jeanna (as in Gina...not to be confused with Jenna)  Moving on... Everything about this wedding was beautiful! I wish I had more to show you.

 This is the view from our Aunt & Uncle's (Groom's parents) condo balcony. Look across the road and you can see where the wedding took place right over the boardwalk.

 There is Hubs on the end looking off to the side pondering the mysteries of love and life, I'm sure.  Or, there might have been a cool shadow over there.. Who knows?  Also, two guys over is another cousin of ours Jonathan. He just happens to be a new dad, I told you about his wife and their little boy in another post. He's the one looking at Ben looking at the weird might-be shadow. I guess our family doesn't do well at paying attention. 

Straighten up boys, Here comes the Bride!!
 I really hate I caught her in a shadow here, because her dress was just stunning. The material as well as the embellishments on the waist sparkled like crazy any time they got near a ray of sunshine. 

Before you look at this next one, let me fill you in on why I said they "literally" tied the knot.  Well, in their ceremony, the minister had them tie a knot around their hands which were placed on top of one another. I wish I had a shot of this, but I would have had to stand to do it, and I'm not about interruptions during a wedding. I'd hate to be mistaken for the girl who was "speaking now"...  It was a really special moment and a sentiment they can repeat every year!

You're now Keith and Jeanna McNeill!! The Kiss!

 Then we walked back across to the Portofino resort for the reception. I selfishly used two of my shot to phoot myself and hubs... What can I say?

Right before sunset, it was so beautiful there with the bay right behind us and the beach on the other side!

I'm pretty proud of this shot. I managed to snap it without a fancy camera. Just a girl and her Easy Share.
 I got the sunset shot standing on the dance floor before things got going. The pool at the edge of the dance floor made a really nice atmosphere.

Lastly, I managed to get Ben to dance with his mom. This made me even happier than getting him to dance with me.
Unfortunately, they knew I was taking a picture and then looked very posed, and honestly, awkward.  Maybe I should send it in to Awkward Family Photos site.... Idea.

Well, that's all 8 pictures... 

Since I didn't get a photo of the ACTUAL couple getting married, here's one I snuck off FB, BUT I'm giving credit to the awesome photographers. To see more click here.

Congratulations, Keith and Jeanna! It was really a beautiful day!
October 1, 2011  Pensacola Beach, FL

Monday, October 3, 2011

A few ways to be an Awesome Sister (PART 2)


Sorry it has taken me so long to finish this thing out. This whole week has been insanely busy. I feel like I've just been all over the place. And... there is no end in sight. I'm writing this now as I'm packing to head out for Pensacola this afternoon.  There will be a post about the wedding we're attending next week! Stay tuned...


Now, back to last weekend!  Here's where we left off.
We had to go back and prepare the goodies for the shower. Starting with the choc covered strawberries.
The chocolate attacked my wrist. I feared for my life.

We also made frittatas. (AKA: Baked egg cups with stuff in them)

Finally, Saturday morning came and we were ready to rock'n'roll. I didn't take pictures of set up, because that's boring.

D & B
Me and D
Let's take a look around..
 Game when you first come in.
Guess how many Onesies are in the jar. (Answer: 13)


 Food table, we used books to decorate everywhere.


The cupcakes went along with the color scheme in 3 different flavors.


Look, a blurry margharita cupcake.


 The big table for everyone to gather around :)


 Each person had their own spot complete with everything needed to participate in games as well as have strawberries at arms length!


More books as decoration. Those strawberries look so good! (B was the master for these)



 D with her gifts for Alice Katherine


 Showing off the belly!


B is..... groping the belly???


Another shot of us before she began to open gifts..


Opening gifts... I'll just show a few.

 Well it was a "Bring a Book" shower, after all.


 Cutest tu-tu ever made. I might be a little biased ;)


From Aunt B.


Blanket our mom crocheted for the baby.


Some pictures of the guests...

 Some of D's friends from High shcool. Together again :)


 D and her two sisters-in law


 3 of my dearest friends who just happen to love D too!!!


MoW swallowed a bug... JK. ACTUALLY... Chels and J just bailed on her for the silly face picture.
And then the shower was over. We ate, we talked, we played games, and we celebrated the upcoming birth of a sweet little girl!

Then some of us went back to D's house to do some nursery decorating.

 Painting letters to go over the crib.




Then, we all went out for dinner later that night.


Me and my hubs!!! He photographs so well. I am jealous.
(forever maroon and white! HAIL STATE :)  I'll try not to get carried away by the Alma Mater...

It was so wonderful to get to spend time with BOTH of my sisters at the same time. It's been so long. But all good things must come to an end....

Here is Me, hubs, both sisters, and D's husband. In the same place at the same time. Weird.

I justify my look in this particular photo by the following:
1. I have on no makeup
2. The sun is in my face
3. I'm currently in "I'm-gonna-sneeze-but-I'm-taking-a-picture" stage. It was tough

Then Hubs and I had to take B back to the airport. Sad.

 I Heart my sister.
Bye B!!! I'll miss you. Sad again.

Then, to soothe my pain, Hubs took me to DQ for a sundae. It helped... a little.

Then we came home. We were exhausted, for real. The End.

Disclaimer: I do apologize this post took so long to put up.  I had most of this finished and lost it over the weekend. So here you have it now. I'll blame it on the long, but wonderful weekend in Pensacola!!

Bye for now, thanks for reading! xoxo