Monday, December 31, 2007

The Date is Set!

We are getting married on September 6, 2008 at First Baptist Nashville!

Friday, December 28, 2007

It's Official....

....Jeremy and I are engaged!!! He asked me yesterday (my birthday) and I could not be more excited! We're not sure of a date or any other details yet, but I will definitely keep you all posted. Here's a picture of my ring:

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Our First Night with the Wii!

Yep, through the miracle of Christmas (and with the help of my good friend, Christina) J and I were able to secure a Wii for Christmas this year. I was going to try and make him wait until at least Christmas Eve to open it, but we were both just too excited. Here are a few pictures of our first night with the Wii.

I birdied the first two holes and beat Jeremy at golf!

Jeremy tries to control his golf swing!

Boxing is definitely a favorite game - and an excellent way to relieve stress!

"When it's time to change....

...then it's time to change who you are into what you want to be!" The Brady Kids couldn't have put it any better! My hair was definitely in need of a change. I decided (with Jeremy's prodding) to get several inches taken of my hair and I LOVE it. Here are some pictures:

As with everything, it looks way better and more layer-y in person, but you get the idea.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Excitement

Here are 10 things I am really excited about today:

1. LOST returns in about 44 days. January 31, 2008 at 8 p.m. I can't wait!

2. Only 3 more days of work until I get a little break. Of course, I have to work the day after Christmas, which stinks, but I am off on my birthday (the 27th!) and the next day. Woo hoo!

3. I'm having dinner with Buffy at Zoe's tonight!

4. I got a new haircut. I got about 8 inches taken off and I LOVE it. I haven't had my hair short in a few years, so the change is nice. I don't have a good picture of it yet, but I will post one as soon as I do.

5. My Christmas shopping is almost done! Just a few more odds and ends to pick up before the weekend. Yea!

6. We're having birthday cake at work today for December birthdays. I, like Jim Halpert, instituted the one-cake-a-month policy and it seems to be working so far. We ordered a chocolate cake with white chocolate filling and chocolate buttercream icing from The Bakery at Culinard in Birmingham. If you've never had a cake from there, you should - they are so good!

7. J and I are having dinner with some friends Friday night at DePalmas in Tuscaloosa. I can't wait!

8. A possible shopping day with my mom on Saturday - hooray!

9. I'm going to church on Wednesday night for the first time in ages to hear some good Christmas music and I can't wait!

10. Did I mention I get to eat chocolate cake today?!?

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

War Eagle to Me!

I got an early Christmas present today! My friend Christina's husband is the Defensive Coordinator at McAdory High School (Go Jackets!) Today she informed me that Tommy Tuberville was going to be at the high school for recruiting. Her husband, James, was going to ask him to sign a few things while he was there and Christina gave him my Auburn coffee mug that normally sits on my desk at work - it was all I had on hand to give her! He took it and Tommy signed it and I am so excited. Here's a picture:

WAR EAGLE!!

CORRECTION: Christina ended up going out to McAdory that afternoon to take James a football and a jersey to get signed. SHE actually did the work and got Tommy to sign it - and he shook her hand! Have to give credit where credit is due! :)

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Take down the fishin' pole...

...and meet me at the fishin' hole!

Yeah, I love Andy Griffith. I didn't realize exactly how much until Jeremy and I started dating. He loves that show! I always liked it, but didn't watch it as much as I do now. Most nights at 10 or 10:30 that's what you'll find me watching. It's great - laugh out loud funny. Random, I know. Anyway, Jeremy and I found these cool prints at a store called Buckboard, Too! in Gatlinburg. Aren't they fun?

Friday, December 7, 2007

Very Merry!

The decorating is done and I am loving it. Christmas is my favorite!

One of my favorite ornaments
Pretty mantle and stockings
Fancy new votive candle holders I found (at Michael's - only $9 for a set of 5!)
Roll Tide for J and War Eagle for me!
Front porch decorations featuring an awesome wreath mom made!

And finally....
the neighbors house across the street! See, I told you they were festive!

I'm "it!"

So Celia tagged me ...here we go.

8 Random Things about Me:

1. I like to sort my M&M's by color when I eat them. The light brown ones used to be my favorite. I was really sad when they took that color away.

2. Apparently I grind my teeth at night. Like, really bad. I've had a few different people tell me about this now. I had no idea and it's never bothered me before, but I'm guessing that's where some of my migraine problems probably come from.

3. I LOVE pizza. I think a little more than I should. I really think I could eat it for every meal and never get tired of it. They all taste just different enough that I never get tired of it. My favorite is pepperoni and mushroom. Yummmm!

4. If I had the money I would get weekly manicures, pedicures, and facials.

5. One day I hope to travel across the country in an RV and see all the sights!

6. I love TV marathons. I like to save up several episodes on my Tivo and watch them all in a row. It's even better when MTV or VH1 show day long marathons of America's Next Top Model - I get hooked, quickly!

7. I have a teeny spot on my head where no hair grows. It's from where I get hit in the head with a rock when I was a toddler.

Thank Goodness It's Friday!!

It's Friday! I love Friday. Even though I still have to go to work, there is something about Friday that just feels great. Woo hoo! Let the countdown to 4:30 begin.

I'm excited about tonight, too. J and I are going to put Christmas lights on the shrubs in front of the house. A lot of the houses in our neighborhood go wild with Christmas lights and I just felt like our little garland with lights over the front door wasn't doing us justice. The neighbors across the street decorate for EVERY holiday. I'm not kidding. At Halloween they had this massive inflatable horse-drawn hearse with a grim reaper at the healm. It was weird. They also decorate with an inflatable American flag for Memorial Day and the 4th of July. I'm not going to try and out-do them, but I do want to show them we're just as festive as they are!

If I can snag some pics of their house without them catching me, I will!

Anyway, we went to Lowe's last night and got some brand new lights that will hopefully work. I think I have a jinx when it comes to Christmas lights, though. Seriously, mom and I bought about 5 different kinds when I was home last weekend and only ONE of the strands worked. It was very frustrating. By the way, I cannot recommend the LED Christmas lights - at least not the white ones. I didn't realize it, but they have that same bluish glow of the LED headlights on cars. Not attractive on a Christmas tree at all! Mom and I bought some of those because they are supposedly energy-savers, needless to say, when we saw the ugly color we boxed them back up to be returned to the store.

It's hot in Alabama. It's supposed to be 63 degrees today and then in the mid-70's for the majority of next week. I don't know about you, but I think it's supposed to be cold in December! I'm already thinking about what on earth I'll wear to work next week. Bah humbug!

Hope you enjoyed the randomness!

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Enjoy the Ride


I thought this was a nice way to start the drive home the other day. Not a bad view, huh?

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

"N" is for New Jersey


As I said in a previous post my family and I spend the holiday weekend at a cabin in Gatlinburg. You can imagine that watching TV can only keep you entertained for so long, so I decided to take "Scattergories" for everyone to enjoy playing while we were there. I love board games, so I was really excited when everyone got as into it as I was.

During one of the rounds the letter was "N" and the catergory was a "U.S. City." I was very confident when I answered with "New Jersey." Could have said Nashville, Northport, New York, Natchez...the list could go on and on. But no, I said New Jersey. Duh, New Jersey is a state, not a city. Naturally, I felt like an idiot when I read my answer and everyone started to laugh. Oops!

Move ahead a day to Friday morning, shopping at the outlets with Jeremy, mom, and Molly. I see a cute pair of shoes that are regularly $60, but are marked at 40% off. I look at Jeremy and say, "What would that be, like 40 DOLLARS off?" I know good and well that 40% and $40 are two very different things. I guess I was having a blonde moment. Anyway, Jeremy looks me in the eye and says, "Marissa, only in the CITY of New Jersey is $40 the same as 40%."

Hilarious, right?

A Very Auburn Christmas

I decorated my fabulous Auburn Christmas tree at work last week. See how cute it is?

WAR EAGLE! Six is better than Saban!


A Better Blogger

So, I've been told that the blogging world misses me. (Thanks for noticing Melissa P!) I will try and do better about keeping up with posting. I do have pictures to share from Thanksgiving, but my dear, sweet sister hasn't emailed them to me yet. I will share as soon as I have them.
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. My family did things a little different this year. We rented a cabin in Gatlinburg and spent the holiday weekend there. It was really great! Of course I ate way too much, but it was worth it. Pictures to come soon!! :)

Monday, November 19, 2007

Here Ya Go...

It's been a while since I've posted anything, so I thought I'd give you a laugh for the day....

I was walking up the stairs at work this morning, caught my toe on the top step, lost my shoe, fell forward and Bam! landed hard on my knee and scraped up my shin. It was quite graceful. Several people came out into the hall to make sure I was ok. I am ok, aside from my embarrassment and bruised knee.

What a great way to start off the week!

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Happy Halloween!

I have a confession to make: I don't really like Halloween. No, I'm not one of those people that is "against" it and thinks it the devil's holiday or anything. I do think that kids dressed up are so cute and I will definitely dress my kids up and take them trick-or-treating one day. I've just never really been into Halloween. I'm much more of a "Fall Festival" kind of girl! Even as a child I was almost always too much of a scaredy-cat to actually go trick-or-treating. I can really only remember 3 costumes that I had as a kid: a clown (seen here!), a hobo, and a princess. Super creative, huh? Thanks to mom for always making us really cute costumes. Seriously, how cute is my sister in this picture!?
Every year at work we all dress up and bring snacks to work for a little Halloween party of sorts. I am so not creative when it comes to costume ideas and it always comes down to the last minute. This year I dressed up as a rag doll. Honestly, I don't think most people realized what I was supposed to be, but at least I tried. I think I just looked like a random girl in a weird dress with pig tails in my hair. You can't see the whole outfit in this picture. I had a cute little white sash around my waist and white tights and little black ballet flats. I thought it was cute - what do you think?


Wednesday, October 24, 2007

I Think I'm In Love...

...with Mat Kearney! I went to see him at Workplay last night and he was GREAT! If you don't know his music, you should get familiar with it. He's awesome, really! Sorry I don't have any pictures to post. Molly kept trying to take some, but they all turned out too dark.

Monday, October 22, 2007

I Love Fall!

Fall is definitely my favorite season of them all. The leaves are changing colors, the weather is (finally!) getting a little cooler, and football is in the air. Even if my Tigers had a rough go of it Saturday night.
I also love the colors - mostly in the fall decorations! I decided to add a little touch of fall to Jeremy's place. Thanks to mom for the awesome wreath!

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

It's Not Easy Being Green...

In my continued effort to do my part to reduce waste and take better care of our planet I discovered this website. It has lots of good info and tips on reducing, reusing, and recycling. It can also help you find recyling centers in your area if, like me, you don't have curbside recycling where you live. I already recycle aluminum cans, but now I can recycle cardboard, paper, tin cans, and magazines, too! I can't wait!
I've also stopped buying bottled water (and successfully convinced Jeremy to stop buying it, too! Hooray!) One because it's crazy expensive and two, apparently it's not all that great for you anyway. Plus it takes tons of petroleum to produce those nifty little plastic bottles that everyone loves so much - bottles that leak carcinogens into the water!Argh! Who knew!
I'm thinking about composting, too, but I need to do a little more research on it first.
Be green! :)

Decision 2008

This is really great!

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

I'm Hooked!

It's official (as if you hadn't already guessed) that I have a new hobby! I am loving this painting thing.

Last Sunday some friends from work and I all got together and painted this one. It's called "Radiance" and I am really happy with how it turned out!


Of course, I forgot my camera, so I don't have any pictures from the afternoon of painting, but trust me a good time was had by all. Here's a group shot of all of us with our completed paintings.

Saturday, October 6, 2007

Saturday on The Plains

Mom, Molly, and I took a trip to Auburn this weekend to see the Tigers take on Vandy. Auburn came away with a 35-7 win! WAR EAGLE!! Here are a few pictures from our trip...
Tiger Walk

The new HD Jumbo-tron in Jordan-Hare! It is SWEET.

Mom and me

Molls and me

Toomer's Corner after the win!
We drove Jeremy's Pathfinder, complete with a U of Alabama license plate and window sticker. I put my Auburn flags up so people wouldn't think we were completely crazy!

After the game we went to our favorite place for chicken fingers, BREEZEWAY! Molly really enjoyed her lunch!

Friday, October 5, 2007

The Latest (and Greatest in my humble opinion!)

I went to another Sips n' Strokes class last night with my friend Ashley. I was really excited about this painting and I was even more excited about the way ours both turned out.

Here we are showing off our paintings after class

And here is my finished painting

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Watch This!

I am so excited about this new show I can hardly stand it. I can only hope that it lives up to the hype!

So far this fall nothing has really blown me away (even my old favorites like Grey's and Prison Break have been lackluster so far - for the love can we just move past this whole George and Izzie thing?! However, I think "Pushing Daisies" just might make it into my Top 5 Favorite Shows. Check out the extended promo here and read more about the show here.

Tune in tonight at 7:00 CST and enjoy!

Saturday, September 29, 2007

War Damn Eagle!

I can't believe THIS happened! I love my Tigers! Waaaaaaaaaar Eagle, Hey!

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Tonight is THE Night


The Office and Grey's Anatomy are back in full swing tonight and I couldn't be more excited! It has been a long summer and I am ready to spend some time with the gang at Dunder-Mifflin. Especially Jim and Pam! Hooray
Yes, I realize that I am a complete TV geek and I'm ok with that. The other night Jeremy discovered my highlighed TV premiere week calendar on the coffee table and I thought I'd never hear the end of it. All in good fun - he just doesn't get my TV geek side.


Wednesday, September 26, 2007

The Hits Just Keep On Coming OR Another Rockin' Awesome Painting Created by Marissa





I went to Sips N' Strokes with my friends Christina and Sapna last night. Here is my latest creation. I taped it into a frame behind my desk at work to make it look more "fancy!"

Friday, September 21, 2007

Long Time, No Type

I'm sure my regular readers (all 2 of you!) have been wondering what I've been up to in my two week blogging absence. Things have been kind of crazy, but honestly I couldn't tell you what the majority of my time has been spent on.

I did take a trip to Nashville a few weeks ago to see the Commodores take on the Crimson Tide of Alabama. Alas, my hopes of a Commodore win were dashed, but we had a good time anyway.


Jeremy sporting his Bama attire...Booooo!!!

The whole fam went to the game - even Dad! For those of you who know my father, you know this is a HUGE deal. He is NOT a football fan. He stayed through 3 whole quarters - very impressive!

And then, last Friday night my good friend Sapna came over and we painted a masterpiece (if I do say so myself) together.
Here is the original painting that inspired us:
And this is my interpretation. I didn't paint the scripture on there because I have no idea how to paint letters with any real accuracy or so that they might be ledgible. Oh well!

This week the blogging absence has been due to the fact that I've been trapped in a classroom from 8:00 to 5:00 every day at Jefferson State Community College in preparation to take my Life & Health Insurance Exam. And yes, it is just as thrilling as it sounds. Needless to say, my days and nights have been spent studying. Thankfully, it wasn't all a waste. I passed my test today! Life insurance, anyone?



Thursday, September 6, 2007

Green Zinnias

Here is the latest creation from my new hobby! Do you see the little blue boy peeking out from behind the purple flower? Everyone I've shown the picture to says it looks like a profile. It was completely by accident that it turned out that way. Sorry again (to my 2 or 3 readers) for the horrible photo quality. I was once again without a camera and had to resort to a cell phone.

Monday, September 3, 2007

Alabama vs. Western Carolina

Jeremy bought us tickets to see the Crimson Tide play and experience Nick Saban's Alabama coaching debut. We had a great time and the Tide won so everyone was happy! My Tigers won, too, but I have to say I was worried about them for a while. Football season is interesting for Jeremy and me, since he went to Alabama and I went to Auburn. As you can see I was a good girlfriend and wore my crimson to the game. I'll pull for Alabama as long as they're not playing Auburn.
Next weekend we are going to Nashville to see The Tide take on Vandy. As a Nashville native and huge Vandy fan, I've already told Jeremy I'll be sporting black and gold for that one - Go 'Dores! Here are some pictures from Saturday.
Jeremy and me ready for kick-off

The view from our seats

A friend of mine made me these super cute earrings to wear to the game. If you like them, let me know! She sells them for just $10 a pair, can make them in any teams colors, and the picture really doesn't do them justice.

Saturday, September 1, 2007

War Eagle!

Football season is finally here! Waaaaaaaaaar Eagle, Hey!

Sunday, August 26, 2007

And Then on Sunday Afternoon....

I concentrated really, really hard...
And managed to come up with this...

I even got Jeremy in on the action. Here is his work in progress...

Editor's note: Neither of these are original ideas from Jeremy or myself. We found the paintings online and tried to recreate them, while adding some of our own touches.