30!!!

So, I turned 30 on the 27th. It hasn't been nearly as traumatic as I thought it might be. The fact that I'm 30 is just a little weird to me and I don't know how to explain it any better than that. A lady at church guessed that I had just turned 23 - she is now my new best friend!

My actual birthday was spent shopping with Jeremy, putting away Christmas decorations and having a yummy dinner with the family. It was great and sadly, I have no pictures from our birthday dinner.

When I arrived at work this morning these footprints met me at the door and read, "Guess who had her 30th birthday?! Come see for yourself!" And led the way to my cubicle....

My lovely cube decorated by one of my most awesome co-workers, Rose. :) Lots of streamers, balloons, mardi gras beads, Hawaiian lays and a couple pictures of J and me. there's also a cute little cake with a big 3-0 on top!

And my fabulous birthday tiara!
Happy birthday to me!

I've Been Bitten

The Twilight obsession finally got me. After a little prodding from Sister Molls (a series of books about vampires, seriously?) I decided to jump on the bandwagon and just read it. And Oh. My. Gosh. It is SO good! I finished Twilight in a matter of days, then read the second, New Moon and am now on the third book, Eclipse.

Yes, it's a tad on the cheesey side, but it's so well-written that I didn't care! They are definitely books that you won't be able to put down. And let's be honest - who doesn't want to find their Edward?? ::swoon::

I haven't seen the movie yet, but if it's still in theaters, that's where I'll be the day after Christmas!

Fall Catch Up

A few pictures from Bama's Homecoming festivities from back on October 31. We took Jeremy's younger brother to the pep rally and bonfire and it was actually lots of fun. It was a cold October night, so the fire felt really good. And it was a HUGE fire! (and p.s. I have no idea why this is underlined. I did not select it!)

Don't we look all cozy and warm??

And just because I'm kind of proud of it, here's a picture of the fall center piece I made for our dining table. Love it!

In Case You Couldn't See it Before...

This is what's across the street from my house right now! Craziness!

Disturbing My Peace

Our neighbors across the street have all of this in their front yard for Halloween...

If you can't see, from left to right there is a horse-drawn hearse being driven by the Grim Reaper, a haunted castle and on the far right there is a creepy looking organ being played by a deranged looking man. As I type, I can hear the "organ music" that it plays. It is loud enough to hear in our living room every night.

These neighbors are extreme holiday decorators and while I admire their spirit I do not love the creepy music that I am subjected to every night.

Happy Halloween. Boo.

Home Sweet Home

I took these pictures of the old train bridge in downtown Northport the other day and was pleasantly surprised with how they turned out...

Good Ol' Rocky Top??

J and I headed up to Knoxville to see the Tide play this weekend. As a lifelong Vol-hater this is one of the few games where I really, really want Alabama to win. We stayed with my brother-in-law at his cabin in Pigeon Forge and had a super great time.

Not a bad view, huh?

The final score - it did not stay on the scoreboard long!

The view from the top...the very top!

Some of the Volunteer Navy - pretty cool, I have to admit

I Still Can't Believe It!

Yes, I'm an Auburn alum. Yes, I love the Tigers. Yes, I still love them even though they're having some tough days lately. Yes, I bleed orange and blue. Yes, I am married to an Alabama fan, but that in no way dampens my enthusiam for the Auburn Tigers!

That being said, I grew up in Nashville and, thanks to my mom, have been a Vandy fan as long as I can remember. I love the 'Dores and cheer them on anytime I get the chance. Whenever Auburn and Vandy meet my heart feels torn between the two. Thank goodness they don't play each other every football season. I have never cheered against Auburn on any of these occassions until Saturday. Always the underdog, Vandy had the chance to go 5-0 for the first time in 50+ years and I had to do my part in cheering them on. The game was amazing. The fans were loud. And the outcome was fantastic!! I'm sad that it was Auburn that they had to beat, but I am so happy for Vandy I almost don't care.

This article summarizes my feelings much better than I can. I get a little misty-eyed reading it.


Who ya with??? VU! Go 'Dores!!

Happy Honeymoon!!

Here are a few pictures from our honeymoon cruise to Progreso and Cozumel, Mexico. We had the best time. I highly recommend a cruise - especially if you like to eat as much as I do. You will not go hungry on a cruise. There is always food to eat and lots to do, too!

Getting our marriage license in Nashville. Don't you love the fancy arch?

Our first day as a married couple - at Union Station Hotel in Nashville

Our life vest drill after boarding the ship - really hilarious!

The view from our room - not too bad!

Dressed up for dinner...

On a street in Progreso, Mexico!

At the Governor's "palace" in Progreso - check out that guard cut-out behind us!

Progreso...

At El Cid resort in Cozumel. We ate, drank, laid in the sun and snorkeled all day here. So much fun!

Our ship - as seen from Cozumel...

Our "Happy Honeymoon" cake that J's family sent us! It was SO good!

Confessions...

Have you read this book??

If you haven't, you definitely should. It's cute and smart and funny and witty and I think it's the holds the record for book I've read the fastest. AND it's been made into a movie that comes out in February. I love it when books I read are turned into movies. Though almost 100% of the time the book is better.

The book is set in London, the movie will be set in NYC, which disappoints me and I really didn't picture Isla Fisher as Becky Bloomwood, but I'm sure it will be great nonetheless!

p.s. Shopaholic Takes Manhattan and Shopaholic Ties the Knot are great, too! I just started Shopaholic & Sister today!

Wedding Highlights

The wedding is over! I am both relieved and a little sad, too. I loved planning my wedding and now I'm not sure what to do with myself. I guess I'll have to take up my hobbies of painting and golfing again! :)

The wedding day was perfect. Nothing went wrong (that I know of anyway) or caused us any stress.

We got our pictures back yesterday and here are so me of my favorites:

If you'd like to see the whole gallery, check out this website: www.tylerandrews.com/marissaandjeremy/wedding. Enjoy!

Here's a picture of Jeremy working hard putting our new TV trays together in the midst of our very messy kitchen. Or as I like to call them, "Our new dining room suite!" We love to eat in the living room. We are bad, I know!

Isn't he cute?!

I am headed up to Nashville today with J's mom to do lots of last minute wedding week stuff. I am really looking forward to spending time with the fam on all the last minute details. I am trying to keep my head clear and NOT freak out. I am a great freaker outer, but I am going to try and keep panic, stress, and worry to a minimum. Wish me luck!

The countdown is on...only FIVE more days!

Life Lately

The wedding is 15 days away and I am so excited I can hardly stand it!!

J and I have been busy with showers and organizing our house lately. We had our last wedding shower in Nashville last weekend and it was wonderful! So many people came to support us. It was overwhelming, but I felt very loved. Needless to say we got a ton of really great stuff and it is stacked all over our house as we try and sort through what we already had to make places for the new stuff. I feel a HUGE yard sale coming on sometime in late September.

Speaking of organizing, J installed these in the garage last night:

Aren't they great? Now I just need a few more boxes and a label maker so I know exactly what is in every box! How fun!

Sister Molls is coming to visit this weekend and we are going to work on putting together programs for the wedding. One more thing that will be out of the way! I feel like everything has just fallen into place as far as the wedding goes. I haven't really felt stressed at all. Anxious, yes. Stressed, not so much. I am sure the week before will be a little crazy, but I am so excited I don't even care!

I read this book over the last two weeks:

It's really cute (and quite predictable) as all of her books are. All are set in the south - mostly in Savannah or Atlanta - and they are fun, perfect for summer reads.

Of course I've still been obsessively watching the Olympics. One, because there is NOTHING else on TV and two, because they are really, really great! I have to say I am a little sick of all the track runners and their showboating. Why must they drape a flag around themselves and take that little victory lap? And isn't it a bit disrespectful to drape the American Flag all over your sweaty body and drag it on the ground around the track? It's annoying and so is Usain Bolt. Yes, he's super fast, but he drives me CRAZY!!

Aren't these bouquets pretty??

These are going to serve as my "inspiration pieces" for my wedding bouquet. Yes, we are making them ourselves and yes, that could contribute to a little bit of stress, but we have practiced and it's really not that hard to do.

And I'm thinking about something like this for the bridesmaids:

Isn't it cool and different? I love them!

Ok, I guess that's enough random rambling for today. Hope you have a great Thursday!

One-Two Punch!

Gold and Silver for the USA! Woohoo!! I stayed up entirely too late watching all of this last night, but it was well worth it!

Lovin' the Olympics!

I have been looking forward to the Olympics all summer and now that they are finally here I can't stop watching/reading/thinking about them all the time. It is SO much fun!

I watched some synchronized diving last night for the first time that I can remember and it was really, really cool.

And how about that US Men's Gymnastics Team? And Phelps - he is a machine!

Go USA!