#tbt: More College Faves

I've gotten really, really, in to scanning my old pictures.  For some reason, I have a huge case of nostalgia going on, and the slightest memory will set me off into tears.

Well, it's either nostalgia or PMS.  Either way, it's been an enjoyable process: coming across pictures I forgot were taken, across people that have since exited my life.

Both people in these pictures have done just that.  I remember them well, and I don't have a bad memory with either one of them, but they just exited my life.  Whether it be graduation or taking sides with someone who is against me, we just sort of.... grew apart.

And that happens with adult relationships, even now.  When you change jobs, move, or just grow the hell up.  It happens.  

This is Heather.  During high school we even lived in the same neighborhood.  Plus, I'm wearing my most favorite sweater ever.  Ugh, if I wouldn't have shrunk it in the damn wash, I'd still be wearing it now.

This is John.  I was only slightly in love with this kid.  He wasn't the relationship type, so I settled for being his friend.  We hung out often, and he was a super sweet guy.  I mean, look at those cheeks!  How could you not love this dude?  I actually had the pleasure of meeting him at Ruby Tuesday, and boy did he know how to attract the ladies.

Ugh.  I'm going to have to stop going through these college pictures.  Having to see how young I looked is seriously depressing.  Not even looked, just was young.  Oh well.  Cheers to being old and wise.

#tbt: Sorority Formals

It may come as a shock for some that I was actually in a sorority while at Auburn.

Delta Gamma for about two years.

That chapter had been inactive at Auburn until the middle of my freshman year.  They had interviews to restart it at Auburn.  I went through two interviews, I think, went through the preference night, etc and was finally a sister, being initiated with a pin and all.

I didn't have the greatest experience with it, but looking back, I also didn't give it much of my attention.  I didn't try too hard to make friends there, and eventually left after about a year and a half. Mainly due to having a job and not being able to fulfill all the duties required of being in a sorority.

The one thing I did have a lot of fun with though, was going to the formals.  Finding a dress and getting to get all gussied up.  Going to the first one with a then boyfriend and then going to the second with a good friend of mine.

Being in a sorority wasn't for me, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a good experience.  I don't talk to anyone that I met from there anymore, but I'm also really bad at keeping in touch with people.

Again, I didn't put forth all the effort probably required of being a good sorority member.  

But I still do remember the password and handshake.  Yep, that's for real.

A Non-Football Saturday on the Plains

I had been toying for awhile about going to Auburn to solely go shopping.

My old Birmingham haunts were letting me down, and when I know that I can't even find anything at Forever 21, that I need to shake it up.

So Saturday ended up being that day.  It also just happened to coincide with an Auburn/Vanderbilt basketball game.

And any sort of sport coincides with a trip to the Auburn Mellow Mushroom.  I will rant briefly about every other Mellow Mushroom in the world.  I pretty much hate them, because they aren't in Auburn.

That's where I had my first Abita beer; that's where I had my first date in Auburn and where I tried my first vegetarian pizza.  That's where I decided that cheesebread was pretty much heaven in your face.  

And rant over.

So guess what I had for lunch!!  (I also didn't end up buying anything in Auburn, which was a total bummer.  But when you're the thirty year old in these stores, you sort of stick out like a sore thumb.  Forgot about that part.)

Here are some pictures from the Mushroom, Toomer's and the Auburn loss to Vandy.

It would have been much more enjoyable had they not blown a sixteen point lead to lose to Vandy.  BUT I did learn that if you're thirty, they totally don't check you at any point in time for alcohol.  

Suckas.

Sprite and sweet tea vodka tastes delicious, by the way. 

Auburn Winning and the Tie to Life

This weekend, Auburn won the SEC championship in Atlanta.

Then, Michigan State proceeded to lose to Ohio State, giving Auburn a clear cut road to the national championship.

Auburn, who was 3-9 last year; they did not win a single conference game last year.  They are now going to play for a national title.

So many things had to come together this season for this to happen.  And while playing Alabama, they started saying Destiny over Dynasty.

I've mentioned before that I'm not really a strong believer in fate or destiny.  I come from the school that you make your own fate; you decide how you want your life to go.

In everything you do, you have to make a choice.  You make the right one for yourself at the time.  It may be the right decision; it may not be.  But you made it for a reason, so stick with it.  You can own mistakes and use them for future decisions.  Everyone on this planet has things they wish they could do over; but you can't.  Own it.  You chose your own destiny.

Then there's this little thing called luck.  Since the Georgia game, everyone's been saying Auburn is lucky.  And sure, maybe luck had a little to do with it, but here's a quote from someone I'm not that fond of, but love it because, well, I do.

"Luck is when preparation meets opportunity,"  - Paul "Bear" Bryant

On to more fun things, I did get to go out and celebrate with a few Alabama fans on Saturday!  I know, crazy, right?!  Went to Cahaba Brewing Co, had some lovely beer, stranger hugged, and ended the night with Taco Bell.  You know it's a good night when you get Taco Bell at the end!  Some photos from the weekend!

So here we go.. team of destiny?  

I guess we'll see!  War Eagle!  See you in California!!

A Small Project + A Little Known Fact

I have noticed something about myself that is just a tad bit disconcerting.  

When I wear socks to bed (which could be disconcerting on its own, but believe me, it doesn't happen often), I always end up taking them off.

When I'm asleep.  

I'm not kidding.  That happens.  It sort of weirds me out, but it happens.  I always wake up snuggling with both socks.  I thank Jesus that I don't have smelly feet.

Anyway...onto something less weird.  One day while perusing Pinterest, I came across a lot of wine bottle projects.  A lot of them were way out of my creative league, but I though a-ha! there are some on here that I can mimic, and maybe, just maybe they won't come out sucking so bad.

So I took five of the many wine bottles I have around the house ( I have been saving them for awhile waiting for the creative/non-lazy bug to hit), spray painted them glittery gold, and added a stripe of chalkboard pain for good measure.

All done with paint tape, glittery gold spray paint, and chalkboard spray paint.  I will tell you a few things that I learned in the process:

1.  Hope you like gold glitter, because wherever you spray paint (umm, it was below 40 degrees outside, and homie don't play that game) is going to turn glittery.  I've always said that everything is a little happier with glitter, so I thought of it as a good thing.

2.  If you can (or have the patience) try to soak or peel off the wine label.  I did not do either of these things, and you can sort of tell on the chalkboard paint stripe.

3.  Be sure to tape the bottom part extra well; my chalkboard paint sort of seeped through, creating a few streaks of the black amongst the gold.

They came in quite handy to write my War Eagle, Beat Bama message.

And are coming in even handier for the Beat Mizzou!

And just because it's never going to get old...

War Eagle folks, War Eagle.

2013 Iron Bowl

Usually I don't post on the weekends.  

But I don't want to forget the feeling from last night, and I want to make sure that I document it, somehow, even if it is on this little corner of the intra-webs.  

Iron Bowl Saturday.  Alabama #1 in the country; Auburn #4.  Auburn big underdog; as always.  The entire game was back and forth until the very end.  Alabama missed a few field goals, every one in that stadium was as loud as it could be.

What seems to be the last play of the game in the fourth quarter has TJ Yeldon running down the sideline.  He appears to run out of bounds as the clock is running out, but Saban and Alabama petition for one more second to be put back on the clock.

Done.

Alabama lines up for a 57 yard field goal.

They miss.

The ball lands right into the arms of Chris Davis.

Who then runs 109 yards to the other end of the field for an Auburn touchdown, winning the Iron Bowl with no seconds left on the clock.

Holy war eagleness.

Best game I have ever watched.

Plus my dad was here.

And they let the fans rush the field.  It will never get old.  Hearing Rod Bramblett's call with Davis running from end zone to end zone, the jokes about how long it takes to beat Bama (1 second), or watching the Auburn fans reactions to the win.

Auburn fans rush the field.

Blurry as all get out, but in case you can't see that, it just says Auburn won and they're awesome.

it was amazing y'all.  Just amazing.  Definitely the best Iron Bowl ever.  I'm so jealous of everyone that got to be there.

But getting to spend it with my dad made it even better.

War Damn Eagle, my friends, War Damn Eagle.

Auburn This Year

I'm gonna break right in the middle of my Baltimore trip (mainly because my Dad sent some ones that I'm going to steal), to talk about Auburn football.

 

Because ladies and gentlemen, my team is 5-1.  That is two more wins than they had all of last year.  And honestly, I think the game they have coming up, they could win.  It's against Texas A&M, and hey, crazier things could happen.

 

Just like when Mizzou beat UGA.  Ha.  Haha.  It's still funny.

 

Anyway, a couple weekends ago, we went to Auburn to watch them play Ole Miss.  It was the first actual game of the season that I got to attend.  And it's always as beautiful as I remember it.

 

We got there early, as usual, to tailgate and drink.  Also to buy more Auburn gear that I most certainly don't need.

 

So we picked a nice shady spot, sat our booties down and began the pre-game festivities.  Which mainly consists of drinking.  We even brought the mini grill, which produced these babies...

 



 



There are very few things on the planet that I love more than hot dogs.  But put them on the Plains and add mustard, and I'm in heaven.

 

Coach Malzahn had asked the crowd to bring the noise, and it was definitely noisy.  It made me so happy to get to be there.

 

The Tigers did win the game.

 





 

Beautiful Jordan-Hare at night.  The weather was perfect, the Tigers won, and we didn't have to drive all the way back to Birmingham that night.

 

Plus it was capped with some cheeseburgers from McDonalds.  It doesn't get any better than that ya'll!  We're hoping to make it to one more game this season, but it may not happen. 

 

Fingers crossed!

 

 

Football Season

I wasn't a big fan of the prompt today for Blogtember, sooo, I'm not going to do it.  Not that I didn't miss last Friday or yesterday or anything.  Otherwise, I might be a little upset.

 

But I haven't kept up with it, so I'm not, and I can talk about football, and that's way cooler.

 

It's again, no secret to anyone who knows me and/or has read a past post of mine that I love football season and everything doing with it; the navy dresses with cowboy boots and orange jewelry; the bourbon and cokes at 9am, chick-fil-a breakfast, and of course, actually enjoying the game of football.

 

My dad taught me pretty much everything I know about football, and for a girl, I grasp the concept of the game pretty well.

 

I've been trying to learn more specifics about the game, specifically certain plays and how they're run and what they look like when they're being called. 

 

This was the first year in a long time that I've missed the Auburn home opener; I had to work that morning, and it just wasn't in the cards.  I was pretty heartbroken over it, but had a good time watching it at home.  Even though they almost gave me a heart attack by almost losing.

 



 

I'm pretty sure she wanted me to die after all these pictures, but come on?  Shaker and dog?  Not going to pass up that opportunity. 

 

Auburn ended up winning their first two games; my poor Packers were not as lucky.  They lost on another blown ref call (seriously, ref demoted!  No joke!), and it was very sad.

 

Hopefully they'll play better this week!  Here's to hoping everyone has a happy football season full of W's and bourbon!

Auburn Eats - Zazu Gastropub

The downtown eats of Auburn, AL have changed so much since I went to school there.  They have gotten rid of Wings (which was the best wing place in Auburn), put up a Moe's BBQ and some other restaurant.

So before Jessica and Olaf's wedding, we were starvin marvin and decided that we wanted food, and maybe just a few cocktails.

I mean, we were in Auburn.  What's the fun in going back to your school town if you can't drink a little?

Anyway, tucked into the place where our beloved Wings used to be, they put up a new Zasu Gastropub.  I had never even heard of this, but they were open and serving, and that was enough for us to try it out.  We walk in and there is hardly anyone in there, except for a couple of incredibly loud college students.

Ahh, I miss those days.

So we ordered a couple beers and appetizers just to tide us over until the reception.  And I'm sure glad we did.

We ordered the duck fat fries and some BBQ nachos that were divine.  Like we're talking heaven here people.  We weren't that impressed with the fries, since they tasted like every other french fry on earth, but the sauce they served with them?  Yums!

Some pictures from our wedding pre-party.

 If you're ever in Auburn, I'd try it out, but honestly, there's better places for you to go.  Like Laredo's Mexican, which is my absolute favorite.  Or you could even go and get a hot dog from Toomer's Drugstore.  We didn't actually eat the meal there, so of course, keep that in mind. 

Their main food could actually be really good.  Maybe one day, we'll try that out.