Go Dawgs!

Well friends, you're about to read something that will blow you away! Ready?

I am a Missississippi State University Graduate, but I had never attended a Mississippi State University Football Game... until they played Auburn a few weeks ago!!

Oh, my sweet friend Joy and her family invited me along for this fabulous first time occasion and I had SO MUCH FUN! I was SO HOT, but I had SO MUCH FUN!

I know that so many of you have these EXACT same pictures or have seen them time after time, but since this was such a HUGE occasion for me, I'm posting mine too!

and this is the F-18, F-16, F-20 SOMETHING fly over before the game!! Ha... I so don't pay attention to those little details!

To my sweet blogger friend Megan, from the looks of your pictures from the MSU/Auburn game, we were sitting pretty darn close to each other!! I wish we could've met in real life. We would SO be best friends, I'm sure!

I need to take a quick little second to clarify something. Over and over for the past year or so, there's been a huge mix up for some of you little readers!! Scroll back up to that top picture of me and my friend Joy. I'm on the left. She's on the right. I have short hair, she has long. I work in a church, she's the editor of 393. We're both social butterflies and we just so happen to be great friends and act like sisters a lot of the time, but I'm not her and she's not me!!

I was singing at a funeral yesterday, and a sweet, sweet lady approached me and said, "Oh my word, your voice is beautiful. I LOVE reading that magazine you put out, but I had no idea that you can sing, too!" I was gracious, accepted the compliment and went on.

Back in the spring, I was in Walmart, and a sweet lady pulled me to the side to make sure that I would be coming to the Irish Festival to take pictures because she wanted that event in 393! I told her I would be there because I didn't have the heart to tell her that she had the wrong person. Then I hopped in my car, and quickly called Joy to tell her that I had accepted an invitation for her and that she better not let that sweet woman down!!

Don't get me wrong, being called Joy is a compliment in many ways... I just wanted to clarify to so many that we're not the same person!

BooHOO!!!!!

Last Tuesday I was a complete baby!!

I had to go to the dentist and have a root canal and a crown on a tooth that ALREADY had a root canal and a crown! I'm pretty sure that EVERY tool, cream, file and powder that's laying on that cabinet in the picture above was used in my mouth for the ENTIRE THREE hours I had to lay still and keep my mouth open!! I'll tell you that I did have to pay a hunk of change to my favorite dentist... and I even have dental insurance!

I'm not finished!! When I finally got out of the dental chair, I had to go down to the court house and buy a darn new car tag!!! My pocketbook surely was/is hurt!!! My mother has NO sympathy for stuff like this. She says, "That's life!" Thanks mom!

Jackson Fun Day

Easely Amused has impressed me once again! I treated these sweet friends for an art class for their birthday gift this past weekend and we had so much fun!

After we finished being artsy, we went to Newks for lunch and then headed to Renaissance to do some serious shopping-- okay, only one of us did serious shopping! Joy and I just window shopped believe it or not!

Oh, and then I happened to feel the need for a sweet treat so we stopped at the ah-mazing new cupcake shop in Flowood, GiGi's. Oh Sweet Goodness! These little treats were DEEE-Vine!

Ya'll, I took this picture off of the internet because my phone is acting crazy, but this is the real. deal. Heaven on Earth for a sweets lover like myself! You must stop by and visit GiGi's when you're in the Jackson area!

FALL FAVORITES

I'm thrilled that fall is right around the corner! I'm even more thrilled that the temperatures have been much cooler this week and I can get to work with my hair in place and instead of it being a big frizz mop!

Fall means several things to me.

It means that I'll be starting my third year of graduate school @ NOBTS. It means that I'll spend several nights of the month watching Friday Night Football. Yep, I'll be watching some of my students at Meridian High, Northeast High, Clarkdale, West Lauderdale, Lamar, Russell, and Southeast play in the band on the field or cheer! If you see me there, be sure and say hello!

It also means that I'll be rooting for the Mississippi State Bulldogs!! I'm a bulldog fan, I've just never been to ole Davis Wade Stadium to cheer on the dawgs! It's not right, I know! Anyway, Il'l be ringing my cowbell sometime this year I'm pretty sure!

Did I mention that I know pretty much nothing about football?! I know when a touchdown is made, and I know what an interference is, and I'm learning about those false starts and those penalty flags... but I have a long way to go I'm afraid! I've never thought I needed to know much about the game-- socializing has always been the highlight of my football season!

I may be jumping the gun here, but autumn means we're just a little bit closer to Christmas!! My family is so laughing at this post right now because they say that I make my Christmas list all year long-- and they're practically right! I'm going to try and wait another month, but it's almost time for the Christmas music to be brought out!

Happy Friday!

Cutie Patootie

PLEASE LOOK AT MISS PRISS HARPER GIRL!!!

Oh. My. Word. I'm so glad that I get to call her mine (not my child of course!)!

BLOG EXPLOSION!!!

Well hello ya'll!! I've done it again!! I'm simply a Blogging Babe failure!!! I can't tell you the last time that I've actually sat down and sorted through different pictures and tried to put together a post that's worth reading. But I'm back from fabulous vacation and I had a little time to play catch up!!

Over the summer, I did lots of traveling with all of my kid groups at the church. Probably one of my very favorite things to do with them was go to Louisiana to the Insta-gator Ranch! We were able to hold baby alligators and I was terrified for the first 30 minutes until the tour guide yelled and told me that my kids were "showing me up" and all the kids heard him and started saying the same thing!

I was absolutely TERRIFED!!

and then I got a little more comfy!

Two days after I got home from Louisiana, I left for Philadelphia, PA on FBC Choir Tour 2010. I got to spend an entire week with some of my very favorite people doing lots of fun things!! This is our group when we stopped at a church in Abington, VA to sing for morning worship.

We spent several days touring the big city-- we took a double decker tour and got to see so many landmarks and cool buildings, we ate at some fabulous restaurants, and even watched 3 movies (Despicable Me, Toy Story 3 in 3D, and The Sourcerer's Apprentice).

We visited the Liberty Bell...

and Independence Hall. I know pretty much NOTHING about History, so most of my youth decided that they'd use the week to quiz me on historical events. Epic Fail!

I also got to visit the Amish Country which was super interesting!! Those people are hard workers, I tell ya!! I'm not so sure that I could survive their lifestyle!!

After the Amish Country, we headed to Hershey, Pennsylvania!! SO. MUCH. FUN! We went to the Hershey Chocolate Factory and shopped and took a tour of Hershey on a trolly ride! It was so much fun!

I took the picture below on the trolly ride. This is Hershey Park! I stated MANY, MANY times during the week that I wasn't going to ride anything at the amusement park and that there wasn't a single one-minute thrill that was worth any back trouble!! BUT... I couldn't stand it! I couldn't be shown up!! So, I rode several roller coasters and other rides and had the time of my life!!
I got home from a week on Choir Tour on a Saturday, only to turn around the next day and pick up my Junior Miss girls for the week! This year was my second year to drive for Mississippi's Junior Miss. Many people called me crazy for agreeing to help out when I had so much going on, but that's such a fun week and I don't ever want to miss out!!

Each night while the girls are in Meridian, there is a party! These are my girls (and me) on the way to the Spotted Pony Bid Party. Talk about a car divided!!

(Lamar County, Meridian, Hancock County and Neshoba County)

I'm pretty sure that every driver thought their girls were the BEST and I certainly did too!! We grew super close for a week and I'm so thankful that they were placed in my group!!Jr. Miss ended on a Saturday night and that following Monday, I left for my final week of camp! I spent the last week of summer with some awesome friends and some amazing 3rd-6th graders!!

(please note that I have NO CLUE who the man in the background is)

If you live in the Meridian area, you've heard that Weidmann's has re-opened! We went two weeks ago to celebrate my Grannie Poe's birthday! SCRUMPTIOUS!! I don't remember the old Weidmann's but apparently they're brought back some of the specialties from the good ole days! I've only been at dinner, but I'm wanting to try the famous vegetable plate lunch soon!

Oh, oh and onto the most fabulous week of my whole summer (I'm pretty sure I said that about every week of summer)...

THE SISTER GIRLS WENT TO THE BEACH!!!The past week has been so much fun! My mom, grandmother, great aunt, 2nd and 3rd cousin all loaded up and soaked up the sun in Orange Beach! We played games, ate, talked, ate, layed out, ate, laughed and lauged and ate some more!! I've never laughed as hard in my enitre life that I did when we were in a game of Taboo. I SO wish I could post video and pictures of my grandmother and great aunt trying to describe those purple words, but I was threatened that I would be beaten within an inch of my life if those appeared on facebook or the blog!

Another treat of the trip was TCBY! Oh, how I miss our sweet treat place in Meridian!My mom and Jesselyn Grannie Poe and GrannieThe Sister Girls before dinner one night!Me and ErinSandra D and MeThe Bathing Beauties... ha! Not so much!

We all have our differences and most of the time, we all speak our mind (well except for 2 of the sister girls, the rest of us can hold our own!) But one thing that we all have in common is our 2nd toe. They say that if your second toe is longer that your big, then you're the boss of your family.... guess that's why we're all so "in charge!" ha!

To all of you that blog, I found this cute little ornament at The Bag Lady at the Wharf!! How cute is this?!?!

Thanks to all of you that check in with me periodically. I got a text while I was at camp from a friend named Rebekah that said, "Do I need to give you something to talk about bloggin' babe? You're blog needs some attention!" Things are back on track, school is back in and the traveling is slowing down so I'll have more time on my hands for this blogging stuff!!!

Nashville...

Shortly after Lauren's birthday celebration, I left for the big city of Nashville!! I took my youth family to M-Fuge. One of the dress up nights was called "County Fair." This is me and one of my youth all decked out for the party!!

I was so proud of my youth. They painted a school that had been damaged from the floods, went to shelters and played games and made crafts with the kids, went to retirement homes and homes for people with alzheimers and did a little jazzercise. It was a BLAST!!

Lauren D's Birthday Celebration!

Yay, Yay, Yay for Lauren's Birthay!!

Last Wednesday, my sweet friend Lauren celebrated her birthday! Lauren and I have known each other for as long as I can remember! We grew up in church together and got really close after she moved back to Meridian after college!

Lauren and I enjoy the same things. There was a time in American Idol History when she came to my house every Tuesday night to cheer and scream "Pick Pickler" every single time that Kelly Pickler graced the Idol stage! Lauren and I also went to see the American Idol tour the year that Taylor Hicks won... oh yeah, and Pickler was there too! Ha!

Even though Lauren now lives in Jackson, we talk frequently and see each other when we have weekend get cookouts and celebrate the birthdays of some of our friends!

Last Friday night, our sweet friend Joy (pictured above) and Lauren's boyfriend, Brandon, helped get everything together for a celebration. We ate, and ate, and ate again as we scarfed down her, you guessed it, "American Idol" birthday cake! And the gifts went along with the same theme!

Joy had this wonderful idea for us to contact Courtney from 'AngelCourt Jewels' and get Lauren something really special for her birthday. You see, AngelCourt supplied all of the jewelry for the American Idol finalists this year. So after Courtney came over and displayed some of her awesome pieces, we chose two things that were perfect for Lauren. I have spent a while looking for pictures of Shioban and Katie Stevens in this jewlery to prove to you that they've actually worn it! I'm going to keep looking. It's really cool and Lauren was speechless! She couldn't believe that she was wearing earrings that Siobhan wore in Idol Season 9!

After countless hours of socializing, eating and laughing at our goofy selves from attempting to play Taboo, we ended the night! It was so fun!

Elizabeth, Joy, Lauren, Terry, Brandon, Dylan and David, I had so much fun with ya'll! I still haven't stopped laughing from some of your words in taboo!

Oh, and if you're wondering, her boyfriend Brandon gave her tickets to go and see Carrie Underwood in Birmingham the night after her party!

Graduation and Birthdays!

Our baby cousin Emily graduated from Pelham High School in Birmingham on May 27th. She was one of 18 (I think I'm right) Valedictorians. A few years ago, her sister Sarah (pictured with me and Em below) was a Valedictorian, too! They're both really smart girls, and have big futures ahead of them! Today just happens to be the birthday of two special ladies in my life and that's why I included the picture above! My mom and Emily share the same birthday and we've always thought that was really cool in our family! I hope you both are having a fabulous day! I love you both so much more than you'll ever know!