My PawPaw...

Today would have been my PawPaw's 82nd birthday, if he was still here on earth with us.  He passed away in October of 2006 and I miss him more than words can describe.  I must admit that I had him wrapped around my little finger since the day I was born! I was his Mandy Girl!

I am the only girl and wow did he treat me that way!  He loved to see me pissed off (not in the bad way of course)-it's more like he got a kick out of it to see me squirm and to see my attitude come out especially as a young girl...he thought it was hilarious! :0  I remember as a child we would go to the grocery store and drop my grandmother off at the door to run inside and pick up a few things and never fails, he would always pretend to drive off and leave her and it would make me so upset that I would scream at the top of my lungs.  He would just laugh and laugh as he pulled back up to the door to pick her up! :)

He was always a die hard Bama fan...until, that is, his Mandy girl went to Auburn...it was all over. After I brought him back an AU hat my first semester, he never took it off again! From then on it was everything Auburn until his dying day...why? Because it was what I loved and what meant so much to me, therefore it meant everything to him.  He def loved the women in his life-me, my mom (his daughter) and my grandmere(his wife of 56 years) were his world and he wasn't ever afraid to admit it!  The men in our lives were ok too, but nothing compared to his women. :) j/k

I learned so much from him-probably more than I am even aware of...but some of my favorite memories of him are his little quotes and quips and as we so lovingly refer to them as "Fred-isms".  He def had his own way of doing things, whether they made the most sense to everyone else or not. :)  He was the smartest man I have ever known and one of the most respected men, both professionally and socially that I have ever known.

We miss him every day that he is not here with us and it saddens me more than I can even describe that my children will not grow up to know this amazing, loving man the way that I grew up knowing and loving him! :)

Happy Birthday PawPaw!

Just when I think it's a gloomy Monday afternoon...

I get this precious picture...

to brighten my day! :)

Please ignore the lack of cushions on the sofa...the hubs is cleaning them!

I know ladies-he's awesome, don't be jealous (of either one of my boys!)

Thanksgiving Weekend Recap!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend...I know that we did and ate WAY TOO MUCH!  We were packed full of things going on and it was a blast!

Wednesday after getting off of work early, we went to meet my BIL and SIL and our precious nephews at Hooters for some dinner.  We played some trivia-Are you smarter than a Hooters girl?-and the answer to that is yes we are but we still didn't win, but had a lot of fun anyways!  While we were hanging out, we ran into our friends Burton and Angela and decided to hang around a bit longer with them after the in laws left.  We ended up staying for a while just talking and hanging out-so much fun when you have those little impromptu gatherings...they're the best!

Thursday I truly believe that I gained 45lbs, easily! We started out the day by watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade-a tradition I grew up with but def not the hubs favorite part of the day-he gets bored a little easier than most! :)  Then we went to his Aunt Anne's house for our first round of yumminess.  We then made our way over to my parents house for the second round of "Let's get fat and eat everything even though we are already full!"  We then followed up our full tummies with some pretty intense games of Wii bowling and golf...for the record my mom rocks at some Wii bowling, however it wasn't the hubs brightest moment! I love you anyways babe! :)

Friday was the Iron Bowl-Auburn vs Alabama-and we went to our friends Shane and Andrea's house to watch our Tigers pull out another victory (28-27) putting us back in the #1 spot int he BCS poll!  War Damn Eagle! 

Saturday we met up with these guys

 at Buffalo Wild Wings for some drinks and to watch their team, Ole Miss play.  Their game didn't end as well as ours did the day before, but we still had a great time hanging out and shutting the bar down...btw-haven't done that in a very long time! :)

Yesterday we decided to take Wrigley Man to the new Railroad Park here in Birmingham...it is awesome!  There is so much room to walk, run, ride bikes, or just lay on the grass and enjoy the beautiful weather.  I am so in love with this park and we will def be making another appearance or two there very soon!  Wrigley was of course the star of the show...he had people oohhhing and aaahhhing over him all day and wanting to pet him and he was loving every minute of it! He is still exhausted!

This past week, we were fortunate enough to get a $50 gift card to Flemings at the Summit and we decided to go last night.  Their food was so delish!  We def ate more than we should have but it was well worth every bite!  Don't get me wrong, it is expensive but they also serve larger portions of food, so I believe that you could easily eat there much more affordably than we did last night for sure by just splitting a few appetizers or side dishes!

Again, I apologize for no pictures, but that will all soon changed since the hubs was such a sport on Thursday to let me go ahead and order a new camera!  It is on it's way now and I should get it later this week and I can't wait!  The best part...we ordered it online, got the Black Friday price, and got free shipping....you can't beat that! 

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Health, Wealth and Happiness...

But you can never have all 3.  This is a quote that I have grown up with and now is the perfect time of year to reflect onit's true meaning. 

I know that some may argue that they know people or are one of those people who do possess all 3 and if so, consider yourself lucky.  But, for those of us who may only have one or two, it is this time of year that makes us even more thankful for those one or two that we do have.  In my personal case, the hubs and I are blessed with health (God willing)and happiness-yes that means we are broke as hell, but we are ok with that if it means that we live a happy, healthy life with each other.  I think this is probably one of the best case scenarios as opposed to someone having all of the money in the world and not being happy or healthy.  Of course in an ideal world we would be millionaires but that's not realistic and is not worth our happiness or our health.

All of this to say that there are so many things in this life that I am thankful for -my husband, my family and friends, my Wrigley, my health, my husbands health, my house, my job (even if it isn't my favorite, but it pays the bills) but most of all I am blessed to be able to enjoy this amazing world, with some amazing people and live a happy, healthy life.  :)

Now let's go eat some turkey!

Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving and War Damn Eagle!

People of Walmart

I don't know about you, but I get super excited when I see an email come through my inbox entitled "People of Walmart"...it pretty much makes my life!  If you are stuck under a rock and don't know what I am talking about, this is a website entirely dedicated to the strange and unusual sights that you find in Walmart stores all across America.  You can find it here.

As I scroll through the "People of Walmart" emails I have always hoped that one day I would be able to experience a real encounter with a "People of Walmart" person and Saturday was my day!  While the Hubs and I were running errands, we ran into America's favorite store to pick up some Christmas decorations for a project that I am working on (more on that later).  Then, right before my very eyes, there she stood...my first "People of Walmart" moment...

I did have another picture of her face (which was the best part-her makeup was hilarious-red rouge, purple eyeshadow and all!), but knowing my luck I would post that one and get sued or something, so this one will have to do.  What you probably can't see on here is her age...this woman had to have been at least 65...I mean I don't know many granny's that sport purple booties and acid wash skinny jeans...just saying:)

I know this is not the best "People of Walmart" moment ever but it's my moment and I'm going to enjoy it . :)

A Case of the Mondays

I am going to recap our weekend but first, my Monday morning!  My Monday morning started at 5:00AM with Wrigley peeing his bed (yes he is a bed-wetter) and needing to go outside.  This is more normal now in our house than I would like, but still 5:00AM!  Anyways, I let him out, flip over his bed, put him in it and go back to sleep.  Apparently Wrigley was having seperation anxiety this morning and wanted to lay right next to me...this is sweet that he loves his mommy so much but not 10 minutes before my alarm is to go off.  I digress...So I get up, take a shower, put on my makeup, and...what next?  my hairdryer is not coming on AT ALL...really?! After struggling with it for a while I reluctantly woke up the hubs to see if he could fix it...he couldn't, it was dead. :(  Anyways I finally get ready with an old dryer that I had and get to work to be greeted with a bunch of wonderful attitudes and smiles <---please note the sarcasm here. 

Anyways, on to our weekend recap...

Friday night we had a girls night at our friend Andrea's house and the boys were supposed to go to our friend Ty's house for a bon fire.  The Thompson's plans changed slightly when we got home to a very sick puppy (I'll spare you the details-we'll just say that it was not a party to get his room cleaned up and him bathed.  Since Wrigley wasn't feeling well, we didn't want to leave him alone for fear that we would come back home to the same ordeal that we had just encountered.  So the hubs took one for the team and stayed with little man while I went to the girls party since I had already RSVP'd.  Thanks again babe for staying with our bubby...I love you!

Sick Wrigley...poor little guy

Saturday, Wrigley seemed to be feeling much better, so the hubs and I ran a few errands before going on an actual date, which seems like forever since we have been on one of those!  We went to Flip Burger and had the most amazing French Toast milkshake you have ever had-cinnamon ice cream and real chunks of French Toast with powdered sugar-slap yo mamma good! :)  We called it an early night since the hubs had to work the next day. 

Sunday while the hubs was at work, I went to the grocery store to get ready for Turkey Day and then made my way over to my grandparents house to join my parents and helped them paint, take the doors off of the kitchen cabinets to clean them and paint the handles (love DIY Network!) and a multitude of other things that still need to be done. 

It was a sort of busy weekend but still a good one.  I am looking so forward to Thanksgiving and all of the yummy food!  Have a great day!

I love me some Shutterfly!

So I must admit, I'm a little behind in the technology department and am sort of slow to catch on to the trends.  But, I must admit that this is one trend that I am super excited about!  After years of having a not so nice or reliable computer, we finally buckled down and purchased a laptop.  Ever since then I have been obsessed with organizing and and downloading all of my picures in one place...thats where Shutterfly comes in.  Shutterfly is a great website to not only store all of your pictures for FREE, but it's a great place to also order prints.  They have an offer now for 50 free holiday cards for bloggers and I think this is a great way to help get the word out about how wonderful this website is and the products they offer like their calendars and books.

I first heard about Shutterfly when one of my best girlfriends used them for her wedding reception invitations.  The best part about it was she designed them from Jamaica just days after they were married and they were mailed with plenty of time!  Just one more reason to love this website! 

If you would like to learn more about Shutterfly and all of the amazing things they offer, check it out here!

Bye Bye Mary

This past Friday night we met up at Buffalo Wild Wings to bid our dear friend Mary good luck and safe travels as she begins a brand new journey in her life.  She is moving this upcoming Monday to Tulsa, OK for her job with State Farm. 

I believe this is a wonderful opportunity for her and completely think it is the right thing for her to do right now in her life, but that doesn't take away how much we are going to miss her! :(  I feel much more at ease knowing that she has Mama Tiff there to take care of her-I know, what are the odds that 2 people out of our group from small town USA move to Tulsa, OK?! 

 Mary, this post is to wish you all the best...I hope that you love it out there, become super successful in your job and love doing it, meet great friends that will be there for life, and meet the man of your dreams and then quickly high-tail it back to Alabama to ahve some babies (also this requires that you bring Tiff back with you!) ASAP! 

GOOD LUCK, WE LOVE YOU AND WILL MISS YOU TERRIBLY!!!!

My Civilian Duty

I have been MIA for the last few days but I have a good excuse, or at least one that I can get away with..I have been on jury duty this week! Yay-I know you are all very jealous, don't lie! :)  Anyways, this was my first time to serve on jury duty and it def opened my eyes to quite a few things.  Just to name a few...

-No employee with Jefferson County will ever die of a heart attack-not one soul in that building has ever heard the meaning of the word "hurry up" or "time management"

-If the courthouse has to ask you to waive your payment for your services due to "budget cuts" and "the spiraling economy" understand that when I take my money and run, it is not meant to offend you, it just means that your problems with your county are not my problems-I'm a taxpayer, I deserve my $30-everythign else is up to you!

-Our courthouses could stand to work on getting some form of entertainment in the jury waiting room like a TV or a radio-I mean, we are already forced to sit there for God only knows how long, at least humor us with some background noise

-I'm pretty sure it costs jsut as much to use the A/C unit than it does to use the heater...let's give that a try next time, how 'bout it?! :)

Even though it sounds like I am bitchin', my overall experience was not bad at all.  I served 3 days like a good little citizen and did my duty.  As some of you know, I am not a fan of suprises or anything that I am unaware of or can not control-hence the control freak in me-so I will admit I had a bad attitude about it at first but I was proven wrong, of course after because then I knew what to expect!  :) 

I was put on a criminal case that was very interesting (a drug trafficking trial) and helped me see through other peoples eyes how life is outside of my cookie-cutter little world.  I would recommed that everyone experience this at least once on their lifetime for nothing more than to get off work for a few days and get paid the big bucks (not!) doing it! 

Funny Faces

Well, before my camera met it's demise in St. Pete last Friday night, my PIC (Partner in crime) Phoenix played photographer and got some really hilarious pictures of some of our friends doing some of the most ridiculous faces I have ever seen!  I hope that no one will take offense to me sharing these to my 4 readers out there...I am including myself in them as well so that I can be just as humiliated...it's all in good fun! 

Please note, these pictures were taken on "vacation" where that usually means that our friends filters for things like camera angles and good smiles is thrown out the window, well at least when alchohol is involved! :)  Enjoy!

And this is what happens when our group of friends find $1 beer specials!  Hope our funny faces made your Friday special...Happy Friday everyone!!!

Happy Veteran's Day!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our men and women who choose to fight for our country on a daily basis so that we can live happy, healthy lives in this country each day!

I can't begin to imagine the sacrifices that are made for our freedom and am forever grateful. We have quite a few good friends and family that have served our country, and it is with great pride that I stand up today to honor you all!

THANK YOU! 

Sawyer's Dedication

So, can you tell that I am playing catch up this week after being out of town for almost a week? :)

 Last Wednesday, the night before we left for St. Pete, we were invited to join friends and family for Saw-man's dedication to the church.  It was held at Church of the Highlands here in Birmingham and to say that this is a big church is a HUGE understatement!  I have never seen anythign quite like it before...Mitch and I were amazed with this church and how lovely it is-they even have a "check-in" counter for your preschoolers and kids to go play while the adults join the service, and inforamtion desk for those who may get lost (us!) and coffee shops and cafes!!!  Crazy!

The hubs and I with Tiff, Keith, and Saw Man!

Still can't believe Tiff's a mom!  :)

We were so honored to be able to witness this amazing moment in not only Sawyer's life but for Tiff and Keith as well.  Even though it was a short night, it was wonderful to be able to get a few photos and catch up with friends and our second family!  You guys are great and we love you all! :)

Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice

I'm a little behind on posting, but at this point, what's new?!  We went to Phoenix and Oj's house this year for our Halloween party and to watch the Auburn vs LSU game.  By this point you know that we obviously won and are currently 10-0 and ranked #2 in the nation!  War Eagle!  I had given you a heads up on our costumes in a previous post, but I had no idea how well they were going to turn out...Here is a little before picture of what my costume started out as...

                                                            and here is the final product...

MaryAnn and Gilligan

The Situation and "The Money you could be saving with Geico"

Snoopy and Charlie Brown

All the boys...

All the ladies...

Pretty good, huh? :)

I think our costumes were a huge hit and we def wish we would have made it to a costume contest or something!  Maybe next year...

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween as much as we did! :)

Nick and Megan's Wedding Weekend-St. Pete Style

Last Thursday we left for St. Petersburg, Florida to begin the wedding festivities for Nick and Megan.  We arrived in St. Pete around noon and immediately made our way to our house we rented for the weekend.  We attempted to enjoy the beach for a little while but the rain cut our beach time very short.

 Thursday night we went to dinner at Hurricanes and then made our way to Undertow, a bar with fab drink specials!!

At Undertow the first night...

Handsome boys

Me with the groom to be

Friday the boys played golf while the girls just chilled at the house for a little while after eating at the Seahorse Grille-best breakfast I've had in a long time!  We went to the rehearsal dinner at a place called Patricks and it was phenomenal!  They had an amazing steak brushetta that was to die for!

Beautiful couple! :)

 The hubs and Nick

Me with the beautiful Bride to be....

Mitch and OJ with the happy couple!

After the rehearsal dinner, we decided to make our way back to Undertow for those fab drink specials again!  I got a little camera happy and I won't post all of the ridiculousness on this post, but trust me, they will make an appearance later on for sure-friends, beware! :)

Don't ask...shortly after this picture was taken, we suffered a tremendous loss....my camera smashed into the concrete floor, destroying the lens, thus making this the end of my picture taking duties.. :(  I am still waiting on some of the pics from others to send me from the actual wedding, so I will try to do another post with those later.  Sad, I know... 

All in all, the wedding was great...very cold but still fun and we def made the best of it all!  Thanks again to Nick and Megan for letting us be a part of this amazing time in their lives.  I'll be back later with more pics when I get them...hhhmmm-Phoenix, Mere and Jess....that means you! :)