Red is the Color of the Day

I say that because earlier today I finally got up enough courage to purchase bright red lipstick. This has been something I've been thinking about for a while now and until now I have talked myself out of. Every time I see someone wearing it (in the appropriate setting of course!) I fall in love with this color so today, I got Laura Mercier Truly Red, it is gorgeous! Now, I just have to find a time for myself to make my debut (in the appropriate setting of course!)

I also say that because the Saint Louis Cardinals just advanced to the playoffs!!! My husband is one happy guy right now. It was a very exciting race to become the Wild Card for the National League but the Cards pulled it off by winning their last game of the season, ...and getting lucky with the Atlanta Braves losing their last game of the season. Whew! So excited we've come this far and looking forward to October!

STL Weekend

Last Saturday was the only weekend that the Vols were not scheduled to play so as soon as I saw their schedule the wheels in my head started turning as I began planning a weekend road-trip to Saint Louis to visit friends and watch the Cardinals once more this season. It was not hard to convince Alan that we really needed to take this trip...especially since the Cards were playing the Cubs! We left Friday morning and arrived in Saint Louis around 5:30pm. Our sweet friends, Laura and Mike, invited us to stay with them so we got to their house, unpacked, and then went to One 19 North for dinner. It is a delicious tapas bar in downtown Kirkwood and the perfect place to catch up with friends!

Saturday morning we woke up, had a yummy breakfast that Laura made for us, and then headed downtown to the Cardinals vs. Cubs game. It was a beautiful day!

view from our seats

I definitely see lots more of this in our future...

The Cards are only 2 games out from being the Wild Card this year, hears hoping to another World Championship!

It was kinda of (okay so it was really) cold in our seats since they were in the shade so at the end of the 6th inning Alan agreed to move around to the other side to watch the rest of the game in the sun!

Much better (AKA warmer!)

That night after an exciting WIN at Busch Stadium, we went to Anthonino's which is a delicious Italian spot on The Hill and one of our all-time favorite restaurants in Saint Louis!

Our very best friends all came out and met us there which was so great and meant so much to us!

left to right:

Lauren, me, Laura, Allison, and Lacy

Laura took such great care of us all weekend long, she is the best and I miss her already!

The Whole Crew

left to right:

Guys: Ben, Randy, Zach, Mike, and Alan

Gals: Allison, Lacy, Lauren, Laura, and me!

Such a fun and perfect weekend, I can't wait until we can do it again!

Dave Barnes

Last Thursday night, Alan and I got free tickets to see Dave Barnes at the Bijou Theater in downtown Knoxville! Dave was Alan's next-door-neighbor growing up so seeing him in concert and hearing people get excited about him is always fun because Alan remembers Dave before all of that "back in the day" when he was driving Alan to high-school. Dave is so talented though and we really love his music. Dave is also a huge supporter of the Mocha Club which is an online community of people who are giving up the cost of 2 mochas a month... or $7... to fund relief and development projects in Africa. It is an awesome non-profit that really gives so much to others so I encourage you to check out the website and get involved!

Moneyball

Tonight after work I went with Alan's whole family to a pre-screening of the movie Moneyball. Anyone who likes baseball will like this movie... and anyone who likes Brad Pitt will like it too! ;) It was really good though: based on a true story about how the Oakland A's came oh so close to winning the world series by using an entirely new philosophy of how to choose players based on statistics to play the game. It was a little slow at times so maybe good for a Redbox night-in, but definitely one of those feel good movies that all of us love.

On another note, I got a chance to talk to Laura about weekend plans in Saint Louis and I got even more excited just talking to her about places we will go and people we will see! I CANNOT wait!!!

Weekend Wrap-Up

This past weekend went from bad to great! The Vols played the Gators (our long-time rival) Saturday afternoon in Gainesville, Florida. We lost and it was a very disappointing game :(

We decided not to dwell on the loss and went over to our friends Becca & Will's house that night for ice-cream and hanging up. It was great! They put Brayden, their sweet son, to bed right as we were getting there and we were able to enjoy a whole evening of eating ice-cream, watching more football, and chatting late into the night. I am so thankful for the sweet friends we are making and becoming closer to as the weeks go by!

Sunday afternoon I talked Alan into letting us take the boat out. We are going to be out-of-town the next 2 weekends and I'm not quite sure how many more warm days we will have left... so we did and it was wonderful. Some of our best conversations are while we are on the lake... I think it's because Alan is so content he is willing to talk about anything! We were able to discuss quite a lot about life in Knoxville since our move (which we are loving!) and also our trip to Saint Louis this coming weekend (which I am so excited about I can hardly stand it!)

Lastly, I will say that I'm not a music buff by any stretch; however, I would like to highly recommend the album Magnolia EP by Ellie Holcomb. Ellie went to college with me and is SO TALENTED!!! Acoustic guitar... songs based on the Psalms... it doesn't get much better than that! Ellie has been touring with her husband, Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors, (also awesome!) and just recently came out with her own album...which I love! Please check it out! Plus, if you "like" her on Facebook or tweet about her...you get a free download!

Baby Girl

Tonight I went to a baby shower for Katherine Michalik. Katherine and Joe are long-time friends of ours who just moved back to Knoxville from Charlottesville, VA where they lived for 4 years and we are so excited to have them back home! They are having a precious baby girl! The name is still to be determined so stay tuned on that (we may have to wait til she's born, ha! Katherine's due date is October 6th...) It was so special to see all of the love that went into this shower tonight and we cannot wait to meet their sweet little one!

Alan's 28th Birthday!

Today is Alan's 28th birthday and we have had a great time celebrating over the past couple of days! Yesterday after church, my family came over to Alan's parents' house for a big birthday lunch. We had cupcakes for dessert and then opened presents!

the group (minus my dad who is taking the picture)

Alan got some great gameday apparel...

...but his main present was an iPad 2 (thanks to everyone who helped contribute to this!)

Today, I met Alan downtown for lunch at Cafe 4 and then tonight we went to Downtown Grill & Brewery for dinner. It was fun for me getting to spend some quality time with Alan after sharing him with the fam yesterday. I have the best husband ever and I'm so glad he was born 28 years ago! Happy Birthday Alan! Cheers to many, many more to come!

Big Orange Country

We had a fabulous day in Big Orange Country tailgating with friends and watching the Vols bring home their second win of the season. These are our sweet friends Nicole and David and their precious little girl, Leighton! Alan and David work together at Stone & Hinds and we have so enjoyed spending time with them since moving back!

Leighton didn't quite make it to see the beginning of the game

Becky and Mike, some friends of ours who just moved here from Charlotte, stopped by and it was fun getting to hang out with them while introducing them to some good ole SEC tailgating!

They have been our Date Night buddies recently and we have so enjoyed getting to know this sweet couple

We made it into Neyland just as the band was taking the field for all the pre-game festivities

We LOVED seeing the team run through the "T" for the first time this season (they didn't get to do this last week because of the storm) and really LOVED seeing them WIN today, what a great gameday!

It's Football Time in Tennessee!!!

Well I can honestly say that yesterday was a game I won't soon forget! Last night was UT's opening game of the season- we played Montana. We got to campus several hours before kick-off to visit a few tail-gates, see Derek Dooley and the players in the Vol Walk, and watch the band march into the stadium. Here are a few pictures from our afternoon:

We are so excited to be back in Knoxville for this!

Annie, my youngest sister, came with us!

Mitchell and Susan were with us too :)

Pride of the Southland

love this!

It was so incredibly hot, around 90 degrees, but the weather could not have been better...or so we thought!

Here is a picture from our seats right before the start of the game; however, the game did not start promptly at 6:00pm when it was suppose to because of a severe thunderstorm that came through literally as the game was about to start. The band cleared the field and then we heard the announcer over the PA advising everyone to seek shelter. So at this point, we went back out to the concourse but with all the wind and rain we all got soaked! Because of all the lightening the game didn't actually begin until 7:40pm. I of course being the baby that I am at times wanted to go home but Alan convinced me to stay and once the rain actually stopped it wasn't that bad and we were there to see the Vols pull off their first win of the season.

Since so many people had left, we were able to slip down to the lower level where Alan's parents sit and watch the game with them. I will say...it's great to be a Tennessee Vol!!!