O.T.W- Fall Weather, Football, & A Couple of Parties

Over the past weekend....

... we had some serious fun! Saturday Auburn played Florida at home. The game was scheduled for late in the afternoon, which meant we had and ENTIRE day to tailgate with friends.

Ali and Jackson sitting in a tree...

My football loving boo.

Oh look! We found Bess.

A little photo op at Toomer's pregame.

Ryan went to the game with his brother and several friends, while I hightailed it to a local bar to watch the game with friends.

The guy pictured below was an odd character I met while watching the game. I proceeded to tell him my husband was also a bearded man. He told me he could tell I was a girl that could give the proper respect to a man with a beard. It was an odd conversation which ended with me taking a photo of his beard. (I'm telling you it got weird as the night went on)

Cheers for Beards!

Having recently watched the movie, What's Your Number, in which the main character pretends to have a British accent I decided the next person to walk by I would try to fool them with my fake British accent.
These two guys (pictured below) happen to pass at that time. I said, "E'llo. How are you doing?" Both gave me quizzical looks. So I proceeded with, "Bullocks. You can't respond?"

When they did finally speak they asked if I was making fun of them... because THEY HAD SOUTH AFRICAN ACCENTS! What are the chances of me pretending to have an accent to people that actually HAVE an accent. 

It made for quite a laugh.


As it got later in the day things got weirder and weirder, as one will note from the pictures.

AUBURN WON!!

 On Sunday, Ryan and I attend two parties. One party for his grandad and one for my cousin, Kylee.

I love Ryan.

Sweet Birthday Girl.

The party was hosted at Wind Creek State Park at one of the pavilions. Anyone from around these parts knows that no trip to Wind Creek is complete without climbing to the top of the tower.

So that's just what we did...

The weather was perfect and everyone had a great time. What a great weekend!

The Great Wall of China

I called Ryan a couple of weeks ago on a random Wednesday. This how the conversation went:

Me: Hey boo. How's work going?
Ryan: Ahhh, it's fine. Just working. What's up?
Me: Oh nothing. Just ate lunch, wanted to see how you day was going.
Ryan: Nothing special going on.
Me: Well alright. What do you want for supper?
Ryan: It doesn't matter. Whatever you feel like making.
Me: Ok then, I'll let you get back to work.
Ryan: Alright. See you this afternoon you sexy lady*.
Me: Ok. Oh, by the way... I bought a China Cabinet and Buffet today.
Ryan: WHAT?
Me: Alright. Well, your busy I'll see you at home.
Ryan: WHAT IS A BUFFET?
Me: I paid like practically nothing for them. A buffet goes with a china cabinet. You put spoons and stuff in it.
Ryan: Well alright then. See you this afternoon.

(*he didn't really say that. it just sounds better)
And that, my friends, is how I let Ryan know that I purchased a china cabinet and buffet on a whim!

Now, normally if I were making a BIG purchase I would run it by Ryan. However, I got such a good deal I felt like he would understand.

In all honesty, he's more concerned with the fact that we now have to drive 45 minutes to pick it up than the fact that I bought it.

I haven't seen it in real life. I've only see it in pictures.

These are the only picture I've seen:


China Cabinet




Buffet

I bought them from a trustworthy source and she has ensured me that both pieces of furniture are in decent condition.

Now, here is where the great debate begins... Do I paint them both or strip them down and stain them both a deeper color?

I have some ideas I have tossed around in my head. But I decided to go to PINTREST for more inspiration.

Painting them both white seems as though it would make them look so much "fresher" and not so dated.

Via

Via

If I do decide to paint them both white I love the idea of painting the background wall a color so that my china (which is white) can stand out:

Via

 

Via
Not these knobs or color. And no I don't want to paint the front-- just the background wall.


However, a few folks have frowned upon that and have suggested staying more natural with it.  That would mean stripping them down and staining them a deeper color.

via



The stain on this piece of furniture is so pretty.

 And if I do decide to stay with the more natural, darker stain I could still paint the background a color:

I could get really CRAZY and paint them both a wild color:

But at this time I'm not really planning on being crazy.

What should I do? If I lightly sand it and paint them I would always have the option of stripping them down and staining them sometime down the road.

I am not in a huge rush to do either, as our house it on the smaller side and I could never make both pieces of furniture fit without feeling crowded, but in our "one day" house my dinning room will have plenty of room for both pieces.

Please help me decide... comment, email me, gchat me, call me, send me a post card... Just let me know what option you like best!

F.O.L.K- lore

My friend, Whitney, makes jewelry. It's a special kind of jewelry because she puts positive energy of love and kindness in to it.

The name of her jewelry is F.O.L.K. which stands for Fractals Of Loving Kindness.

I purchased a hematite and pearl earring/necklace set back during the spring. Whenever I wear it I get quite the rave reviews.

Here I am late night at a wedding reception rocking the pearl and hematite necklace. (that's my pal Ryan-O)

Last weekend, Whitney, had a booth at the Oktoberfest here in town. She makes all kinds of beautiful things and, in all honesty, can tell you what type of energy you will get from the different types of gems you decide to purchase.

Well, she has recently started making a very fall-ish earrings made of cool turkey-type feathers. Great to wear with Thanksgiving coming up!

I bought a pair of feather earrings and wore them to one day this week. The are subtle in that they blend with my hair, however, when the light catches them just right they are awesome. I received several compliments regarding my feather earrings.

subtle.

But just enough.

If you are interested, check out F.O.L.K's facebook page. She has some really cool stuff!

Maggie Goes to The Vet

We survived the vet. (you may remember that I mentioned Maggie not feeling well) Oh, Maggie got beat down a little bit, but nothing too bad.

So brave.

Four shots, a physical, a little lab work, and some pills to take for the next two weeks and we were all done.

Lab work (her feet are wet because it was rainy yesterday)

Now, I feel as though I was blatantly robbed of a couple hundred dollars, but I would do anything to make her feel better.

You see, last week Maggie started itching and scratching quite frequently. Then over the weekend while Ryan and I were off at a party Maggie decided to start pulling her hair out because she was itching so bad. It was intense. I hit her up with some benadryl and even gave her an oatmeal bath, but it kept getting worse. Maggie was sad.

So I made a an appointment with the vet.

Turns out she has a very sensitive skin and had an allergic reaction to something or another.

The tough part about the visit to the vet was Maggie getting a bit of  a verbal spanking regarding her weight.

She's gained exactly five pounds since this time last year.

She is two pounds over the recommended weight limit.

Apparently we need to work on this issue. So we were told to buy a lesser calorie treat and smaller bones, as the vet said that was probably the culprit.

These are Maggie's new treats:


Only five calories.




Oh so tiny.

And this how she feels about it:

"Don't even bother wasting my time with that small thing"

I told Maggie not to get to down on her self-image. It's hard to get told your fat right after you've gotten four shots. And then there's all this media hype about being skinny. I could tell Maggie was feeling a little insecure.

So to make her feel better I gave her five of her low calorie treats, which potentially encourages emotional eating and enables her to continue with her over eating... but sometimes treats make things all better. Well, that and a couple hundred dollars at the vet.

But on her "chart" she did get this comment:

"Sweet Girl"

So in the end I gave her the ole "it's what's on the inside that matters most" speech and we watched Kim's Fairytale Wedding and all was right again.

O.T.W-- Oktoberfest!!

Over the weekend....

... We began our weekend with dinner and drinks at Uncle Nick's Smokehouse on the lake. As always is was quite good.

Dinner with Ryan and DJ. I accidentally deleted the other side of the table, which consisted of Champ and Deidra.

Saturday morning Deidra and I hit up our local town's Oktoberfest, which basically consist of food, vendors, entertainment...
 

Catching a ride on the trailer to the Oktoberfest!

It was the perfect fall day for enjoying a little outdoor entertainment.

Saturday night Ryan and I hit up an engagement party for Hadley and Kris.

Left: Me and my boo. Right: happy couple getting Iced

Judging by the amount of fun that was had at the engagement party, one can only assume the wedding will be a real hit!!

Sunday was rainy and gross, which lead to me and Maggie watching Soul Surfer and napping.  (I honestly thought soul surfer would be ridiculous... but I laughed and cried and even clapped by the end of it. Maybe it was lack of sleep but yesterday I was loving it. Although, Carrie Underwood needs to stick to singing and working out her legs)

"I'm itching!"

Side note: Maggie has a vet appointment tomorrow. She seems to be having some type of skin irritation and it's not cool. I have had her heavily sedated with Benadryl but that Dr. said that would only temporarily fix the problem. We'll keep y'all posted.

Pigskin Picks

In mine and Ryan's marriage I would say he's the sports connoisseur, obviously. I've said it a thousand times... sports, especially football, rank way up there with Ryan.

Now, don't get me wrong, Auburn football is bred deep in my heart, but that's where it ends for me. I don't care about what the spread is, or who needs to be benched in this week's fantasy. I can't tell you who how many yards in whatever game, but what I can tell you is I'm obviously subconsciously picking up on all the football talk Ryan is laying down.

Case in point:

Each week our local small town paper does a little competition called Pigskin Picks. All anyone has to do to enter is chose who they think will win each game (ten games are listed each week) and then answer the tie breaker question, and fax it in. 

Normally, I go through and chose who I think will win, but just about every week I have to ask Ryan about the tie breaker. The tie breaker is usually total yards, rushing yards, passing yards and so forth in regards to Auburn or Alabama.

Pretty simple concept.

Well, last Friday afternoon I got ready to make my picks and send them in when I realized that Ryan wouldn't be able to help me with the tie breaker... so I had to wing it all on my own. I went all in and rolled with what I felt in my heart to be true.

When I got home last Friday afternoon I told Ryan I made the picks/tie breaker on my own and asked him what he thought.

He looked over the picks and in an attempt not to make me feel like an idiot told me that I did OK, but my total yards for South Carolina was probably a little low.

The wind went right out of my sails. I tossed my picks aside and didn't think about them again until...

... my phone rang on TUESDAY and the lady on the other end simply asked, Hi, Mrs. Sanford? Where do I need to send your check?

WHAT? A CHECK? FOR WHAT? WHY?

She then stated she was calling from The Outlook and I had won the Pigskin Picks contest for last week.

This probably makes the contest make a little more sense.  This is today's paper. I am "this week's winner" because I won for the games that were played last weekend.

Oh is that too small? Here's a better look:

WHOOO HOOO! All on my own I dominated a FOOTBALL CONTEST!  I was more excited about winning it on my own than the little ole $25 I won. Bragging rights, man. Bragging rights.

I could NOT wait to get Ryan on the phone and tell him the news. I didn't want to rub it in, but I certainly did! The newspaper clipping is potentially on our fridge at this time.

ATTEMPT AT FOOTBALL TALK/TOTAL BS: I think I knew South Carolina would be a little on the low side in total yards. I felt like Lattimore would have a tough game against Auburn. And then there's Garcia who got so embarrased in the SEC Championship against AU last year... I knew he hadn't totally bounced back. Both of those reasons were factored in when I put down the ridiculously low 115 as the total yards for South Carolina against Auburn. HOLLA!

Or maybe I just wrote some crazy number down... whatever it was I dominated for the entire small little town to see.

Maybe Ryan needs to start asking me a thing or two about football! Ryan, just call me or ask me when we wake up in the moring (whatever works for you) if you need my help making any picks.

And my hands go up!!!!!

O.T.W. From Birmingham to Auburn

Friday night I loaded up and headed to Birmingham to have dinner and few cocktails with friends.

It was an odd evening to say the least. I'm not sure if it was the ending of the month, the start of the spookiest month of the year, or hormones among girls, but whatever it was it made for an interesting night.

We eventually enjoyed dinner at Surin which included sushi and fried rice and then had drinks at The Blue Monkey.  Tossed in throughout the night were several misunderstanding to keep things interesting.  

Saturday morning came bright and early and I hit the road back the small town to get ready for a tailgate/birthday party in Auburn.

We gathered with friends and family to watch the Auburn v. South Carolina game! War Eagle!


Heath is one of only a few Alabama Fans in the family.





Oh look, there's the other Bammer, his daddy Ash.



The first cold front of the season came through and I wasn't prepared. I had to borrow a pair of socks.

WDE!



Headed home.

On Sunday I had breakfast  with my main man, Ryan, and spent the day relaxing. 

To wrap up the weekend I met a few friends to see What's Your Number which was quite funny.

The weekends just go by oh so fast.