Holy Masoli!

My husband informed me Sunday as we were returning to Birmingham that college football season was a quarter of the ways through.  It is pretty crazy that we've already experienced 3 weekends of college football.  These weekends weren't what we were expecting as far as football goes but they have been just as fun nonetheless!  It has been a blast being back in the Grove and seeing so many old friends.  The weather has been delightful and the food super delicious.  We traveled to the Big Easy for the 2nd weekend to see the Rebels take on Tulane.  We had a grand time down there and the French Quarter transformed into Oxford for the weekend.  We stayed with one of our new friends, who grew up just outside NOLA and still lives there.  She really did a fine job of showing us a good time.  I have a few pictures to share of the first few weekends.  Most are from cameras not belonging to me which is why there is only one of me and the Mr.  I promise that will change as the season progresses and I remember to start bringing it with me :)

Chowing down on beignets at Cafe Du Monde

 

The ladies on Bourbon

Our Season Ticket group, minus a few!

Vanderbilt

Jeremiah Masoli, Our pretty darn good Samoan QB!

Those are just a few of the snapshots of our amazingly fun weekends in Oxford or wherever the Rebels lead us!  We saw Jeremiah Masoli on the Square Saturday night following the loss to Vanderbilt.  I gave him a fist pump & then asked for a picture, knowing he wouldn't tell a Southern girl no.  I wish I would have asked who his dental hygienist was since they have clearly done a fine job on his pearly whites.  Anyways, I still have some hope left in our team.  They are a hard-working bunch and I will continue to support them through good times and the bad times (me and the Rebels have our own little vows).  This lady will always have a good time on Saturdays in the fall whether its a "W" or "L" in the results column!  Y'all can find me under the red tent with a red solo cup in hand. 

Hotty Toddy, Y'all.

My Beauty Bag

One of my favorite bloggers does a weekly post every Wednesday sharing what she's loving.  She always finds the most rad items.  She has some amazing internet searching skills and I am jealous that I can never find that cool of stuff on my own, I always need some guidance.  Well I thought I'd do a little spin-off of "What I'm Loving Wednesdays" and do my own what I'm loving.  Only I'm gonna share my favorite getting pretty products.  Now I am a no frills type of girl, or so I think.  I usually stick to the basics.  I don't use 829 products when getting ready in the morning.  My make-up for a night on the town is the same as the make-up I apply to come to work testing little kiddo's hearing.  Sometimes, I might add eyeliner to my lower lashes and maybe even extend it all the way to the inner corners...exciting, I know. I am just pretty darn simple.  HOWEVER, there are a handful of items that I cannot live without.  I for one think that every woman should use every single one of the following products I am about to list, with the exception of maybe one.

Up first we have, Bare Minerals Prime-Time Primer.

I must admit I was slightly skeptical when I first tried it. I really thought it was a gimmick to spend more money in the Bare Minerals store, but after one pump, I was in love.  One little pump is all it takes to make your skin feel like a blank canvas ready to be beautified.  It feels oh so wonderful and really does give your makeup something to grab hold.  BM even makes a version for you ladies that have oiler skin types. 

Next up is CoverGirl VolumeBlast Mascara

Don't mascara commercials make you want to jump in your car to run to Walgreens to purchase the product that makes you look like you have stilettos growing out of your eyelids?  Well the VolumeBlast commercial sure had me running to the car.  I haven't tried another mascara since I started using VolumeBlast, not even the free samples BM gives me when I spend way more than I should while in that store.  Seriously, this stuff is awesome.  No clumps or flaking and I think it makes my eyelashes look volumelicious!

Next, Bare Minerals 100% Natural Lip Gloss in Iced Coffee

I know, another BM product but there makeup is great.  Besides being super awesome because its 100% natural, its NOT sticky!  Thats right ladies, not sticky.  It doesn't feel like I just applied a glue stick to my pouter.  This might just be my crazy self, but I swear it even has an "iced coffee" taste too it.  This little baby is always in my bag.  She is the perfect topping to BM lipstick in "bread pudding."  Makes you hungry doesn't it?

Now for the night time, Target's Up & Up Oil-Free Eye Makeup Remover

Note:  Not my hand.

I heard about this stuff from someone who said they loved this stuff, best eye makeup remover they had ever used.  Now, this was someone I would normally not take advice from but against my better judgement I decided to try.  I was pretty amazed that this person was on target (no pun intended, ha.)  I dont lose half of my volumelicious eyelashes attempting to take my makeup off.  Although it's oil-free, it still feels oily but doesn't break the area around my eyes out like other products had.  It is a little tricky to travel with, as it tends to leak so I have to put it in a ziploc but still love it.

Finally, Bumble & Bumble Thickening Serum

This is the one product those of you who were blessed with gorgeous, thick hair would not need.  An awesome hairstylist and owner of Bloom Salon & Spa recommended this to me when she did a (fantastic) job on my hair in July.  You use it at night and it works over time creating a build-up that does something magical that makes your hair look fuller.  It is super concentrated, your only supposed to use one pump but my hair is as fine as it comes so I double it up with 2 pumps.  I can really tell a difference after a week or so of consistent applications.  The best part is the scent.  It's a cross between spearmint and something else.  It makes me want to sleep with my hair cascading across my face so I can have sweet dreams.

Well, those are the few products I obsess over.  Nothing too outrageous but still girly enough.  

Our Little Houdini

As you all know from reading previous posts, that we spent this past weekend away in Oxford for Grovin' & football.  Unfortunately, for Layla, this means she has to go to the kennel, or as we lovingly refer to it as "camp."  Well this particular weekend at camp was quite adventurous for our child. 

Saturday, as the football team is running out of juice and the fans are running out of excitement, I get a call from the vet.  Of course, the whole stadium is yelling and the old men behind us are yapping about what play they would have run, so all I can make out is that "This is Dr. So&So at Standifer and Layla has had an accident," to which I explain to him that we are at a football game and I am passing the phone along to my husband who can hear better.  Better hearing or not, Ben cannot make out what Dr. So&So is saying so he tells him to call our number back and leave us a voicemail letting us know what is going on.  However, unknowing to either one of us, I did not have my voicemail set up on my rad new Iphone.  Immediately, following the game, we give the vet a call back only to learn that we were being answered by a calling service because the vet's office had already closed for the day.  While we were worried, we knew it couldn't be too terrible or the calls from the vet's office would have been persistent.  Finally, on Sunday afternoon we get the "accident" from the doctor.  While our little angel was out during her run on Saturday, apparently with little or no supervision, she was able to get the "difficult to manuever" latch open and escape into a large area that is on the property of the vet's clinic.  In the process, she managed to rip, according to Ben, " a large, jagged L-shaped tear" in one of her ears that required stitches.  Of course, while Ben is on the phone with the doctor I am sitting beside him in the car getting little bits of information from Ben's responses and drawing my own conclusions (Thank goodness mine were way worse than the actual event).  Ben gets off the phone and explains the situation (no, not the Jersey Shore situation (WT))  My doggie motherly instincts kicked in and my first thoughts were what if she had been hit with by a car or someone dognapped her??  Our seconds thoughts were, I sure hope they don't expect us to pay for the medical services she needed. We had to wait until Tuesday to pick her up thanks (graciously) to Labor Day.  Ben decides he will do it since he is the man and all...As soon as the receptionist heard his name she paged the Dr. Standifer, not Dr. So&So but the Dr. Standifer.  He gives Ben a tour of where it the accident happened and explained that they don't master lock the latches in case there is a fire or accident.  He was extremely apologetic and said that Layla had been staying inside the receptionists office that day.  He showed Ben the tear and gave him antibiotics to give Layla twice a day.  He also offered for us to bring Layla in everyday this week so she can have supervision while we are away at work.  And no, he didn't mention a cent to us, this doctor knows how to run a business.  And while I hate my Layla had to endure this pain, she is a super smart girl and knew this was the weekend to try it since it would be the most expensive weekend of boarding we will have during football season due to the holiday.  While we were gung-ho about never taking her there again when we were told the story over the phone, we have since had a change of heart after seeing how it happened and all well they treated Layla and us during the whole ordeal.  Everyone deserves a 2nd chance right?

The meds were kicking in..

Ben says she looks like a Nun

Our Little Houdini

Just a Quickie..

Of course this quickie is about Ole Miss.  Yes, it was a terrible & shocking loss this past weekend to Jacksonville State, but they wanted it more, so congrats Gamecocks.  Let's just hope we don't have the same outcome in NOLA this weekend.

So this commercial aired last night on national television on ESPN during the Boise State/Virginia Tech game.  It is a great commercial and paints Ole Miss in such a fun, ,light-hearted way.  The dorky Ackbar nerd is one of Ben's fraternity brothers who started this whole "Admiral Ackbar for Ole Miss" campaign a few months back.  He's not that nerdy in real life, only just a little bit. Anways, follow the link above, it is worth it.

Hotty Toddy, Y'all.

There's a Spot That Ever Calls...

Can you feel it? The chills and sheer excitement of football season? I sure can!  We started the grand season of football last night like we always do by having a little get together with tailgate food, refreshing beverages, and good friends.  Like always, it was a good ole time.  We provided boneless buffalo wings and artichoke bread.  Others brought spicy pretzels (I'm sharing the recipe below), redneck caviar, tomato bacon biscuits (yum-yum), and blondie brownies.  We tuned in to the Southern Miss/South Carolina game which didn't have the outcome we had hoped (USC won 41-13) but we still had a blast talking about the upcoming season.

Spicy Pretzels
1 cup vegetable oil
1 package dry ranch dressing
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 bag (20 oz size) round mini pretzels

 Directions:

Mix together all ingredients except pretzels. Place pretzels in large roasting pan such as used to roast a turkey. Pour mixture over pretzels, stirring very well to coat completely. Bake uncovered at 200 degrees for 2 hrs. stirring well every 20 min.

In just a few short hours, we will be heading to one of our most beloved places, Oxford.  I am almost too giddy to even type this post, hah.  We have our cooler packed and a huge tubberware bin full of our Grove supplies.  We are playing Jacksonville State and they are the gamecocks so naturally we will be serving up chicken dishes at our tent.  There will be a smorgasboard of yummy food to devour tomorrow.  Ok, I feel like all I have blogged about in this post is food so I'll move on. Oh the Grove, How do I love thee.  I'm sure plenty of people think Ole Miss folks are crazy for cherishing tailgating like we do. It's been said many times, but there really is no other place to experience a finer tailgate.  It sounds silly but there are many times on Saturdays in the Fall that I experience goosebumps in the Grove.  Frank Everett said, “There is a valid distinction between The University and Ole Miss even though the separate threads are closely interwoven. The University is buildings, trees and people. Ole Miss is mood, emotion and personality. One is physical, and the other is spiritual. One is tangible and the other intangible. The University is respected, but Ole Miss is loved. The University gives a diploma and regretfully terminates tenure, but one never graduates from Ole Miss.” and it couldn't have been said any better.  There is a big ole spot in my heart for Ole Miss.  I had some of the best times of my life there. I made life-long friends and I even found my honey there, and so yes that little spot continues to grow.


So  tomorrow, when I am seeing old friends and watching our hard-working football players making their way down the Walk of Champions,  I will count my blessings and thank God for making me a Rebel.

Hotty Toddy Y'all!