ITS GREAT TO BE A FLORIDA GATOR!

Just back from an awesome weekend in Jacksonville! Go GATORS!! Mark and I got in Friday night in time to meet everyone out for a great meal at the Verandah. Went back to Tommy and Michelle's condo for a few hours but had to make it an earlier night than normal with the big day ahead of us!

Up with the sun (well what sun there was) on Saturday ready to go watch the gators play! Headed over to Aunt Angie and Uncle Vic's for bloody's and mimosas then hopped on the limo bus and we were on our way. Hit some crazy traffic on our way in so we were blessed with the repeated view of people jumping out of their cars to make a little tinkle tinkle along the interstate. Gross but kind of funny to watch. Several Vodka Frescas later (Hey-How bout a Fresca?) we arrived to get in a good hour or so of tailgating. Nothing beats Zaxby's chicken and Pimento Cheese sandwiches!!

Made our way into the stadium... had to keep cover on Uncle Vic... didn't want them to spot the flask of Brandy hidden in his sock. :) Made the plan to each take one pull off the flask after every score. Well darnit if we didn't run out at the beginning of the 3rd quarter. Too many touchdowns for one flask! Whodda thought we'd need 7 swigs each! And really we could add the GA touchdown into that number as well. Considering there were only gator fans left to cheer them on to their only TD of the game.

Headed home shortly after and with one quick pit stop on A1A (I won't be posting those pictures :) we were back in Amelia and in bed surprisingly early.

Long drive home but it was so worth it. Especially passing those UGA fans doing the drive of shame home on 95!

Happy 34th Mark!

Mom and Jamie came down for a day at Busch Gardens. Mark has wanted to go for quite some time now. Not quite sure why - He's terrified of roller coasters. Yup... my big bad tough husband is scared to death of a little loopty loop. :)

I wish we had taken pics of the poor guy walking around carrying mom and my purses waiting for us to get off the rides. He walked to all the different animal exhibits and seemed happy as could be. Taught me a good lesson... give the man an ice cold beer and he will be happy in most any place you put him.

<----FOR RYAN

Take me home, country roads

SO MY LITTLE SISTER IS A DOCTOR!!! She graduated from West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine this past weekend. I couldn't be prouder!!! It was such a special day and it was tied to a pretty special weekend. Mom, Dad, Mark and I met Alvis, Ryan, Uncle Vic, Aunt Angie, Lynn and Johnny (our adopted family) and Alvis' family at the Greenbrier Resort.

Yeah, I think I could get used to the Greenbrier lifestyle! I wasn't off the plane 2 hours before I was having a fantastic massage at the spa (thanks Mom and Ryan!). Wonderful meals, gorgeous sightseeing, and good ole fashioned family bonding... can't beat it.

Congratulations RYAN!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!

Georgia on my mind

Ryan and I drove up to Statesboro, GA this weekend for our Grandmother's 80th birthday. We had a good time, the town is so small - we were leaving our hotel to meet mom at grandmom's house and we entered her address into the navigation thinking it would lead us through the maze of a strange city... it said "go 200 feet, turn left, travel .3 miles, you have arrived!" kinda funny. We had a nice Saturday (Grandmom, Mom, Aunt Angie, Mrs Janet and I) - good food, good movie (Juno), good relaxin'... Got out to see Aunt Deanie and Uncle Ed - we LOVE them! Went to Grandma's church Sunday morning and then to her Birthday luncheon at the Statesboro Inn. Everything was really nice, Dad and Uncle Vic made it in then we all headed back out to our respective Atlanta-Melbourne-Ocala-Tampa. I have Ryan, Jamie and my favorite pic of mom here. So pretty. And on the not so pretty side I have a pic of Ryan and I at lunch. Too funny. I want to hold a caption contest for this picture... I think that caption should read...... "My sister is prettier than I am ... hmpfh"

I am the WINNER!!

So I get home Monday after work and to tell you the truth it was after a pretty tough afternoon and I go through the mail and guess what I see!?!

I won $500 in a Pepsi Sweepstakes I entered about 2 months ago!!!!! I couldn't believe it.

I've never entered or won anything like that before and it was the most fun surprise!!! Do I have to start drinking pepsi now??!?! :(

ORANGE N' BLUE ORANGE N' BLUE!!!

What a tease! The stadium was jumpin' and you could feel the buzz. It was a gorgeous Saturday in Gainesville... we couldn't have asked for better weather. Ryan and I met up with Jamie that morning and to our delight had already made the grocery trip and had us stocked up and ready to go! Aunt Angie and Uncle Vic hooked us up with a sweet parking space right in front of the stadium so we found a tree and set up shop. They had the presentation of Tebows Heisman stadium sign at half time then Ryan and I made our way down to take a picture with the National Championship trophy and the Heisman. We waited forever in a line only to have them shut it all down about 2 minutes before our turn... whatcha gonna do, we tried. We did get a good pic of the stadium reflected in Ryans shades. Wrapped the day up with Sawamura's early bird special and Ryan and I headed home.

My little angels

So cute. Just had to put this one in here. They look so peaceful. What you can't SEE is the sound of 3 trains coming through my living room... these 3 can SNORE! I was laughing so hard - too bad I can't include the sound.

Juliet and Adrian's wedding!

The big day has arrived!!! I flew into town on Tuesday and we got the party started! Adrian’s aunt started us off with a "Doe Dinner" at Galatoire's Restaurant in the Quarter Tuesday night. The food was amazing and all the girls had so much fun catching up. It must be mentioned that the "doe dinner" inspired Adrian to declare the wedding week "Buck Week." We can just leave it at that. Let what happens during Buck Week, stay in Buck Week. :) We were home in time to rest up for our very stressful Wednesday. Mrs. Hilda treated Jules, Laurie and I to a WONDERFUL day at the Ritz Carlton Spa... lunch, massages, pedi's, champagne, friends... I don't think it gets much better than that. We spent Thursday and Friday wrapping up our last minute details, getting things dropped off and helping set up the rehearsal dinner at the amazing Tony Angello's (there's a good story about ole Mr. Tony Angello getting fresh with me after dinner but we'll save that for another time). Adrian and Jules had a special dinner with Mr. and Mrs. Pappalardo Thursday night so I took Bull on a date to his favorite place... I offered to treat anywhere he wanted in the city and the big man chose the Shoney's dinner buffet. Yes, Shoneys. I wasn't thrilled but the big man has a bit of a broken heart and the only thing that could mend it was fried chicken and mashed potatoes. The rehearsal went perfectly and dinner was fantastic - Mark arrived early on Friday so he was in prime shape for the food and of course drinks (come on, it was Robbie, Bull, Kevin, Louie and Mark... of course its gonna get a little ugly) The toasts were sweet and brought tears to all our eyes... even mine :) Laurie and I stayed in the honeymoon suite with Julie that night and tried our best to get some sleep. Champagne and presents made that a little tough but we did our best. Our spoiled little butts were picked up Saturday morning by Mrs. Hilda and we made our way to the Orleans Club (you think you can pronounce it but I bet ya can't :) It’s an old mansion that hosts an exclusive women’s club (Juliet’s grandmother is a member- Thanks Mamou!) I have never seen anything like it. Absolutely beautiful. We spent the day upstairs in the bedrooms and parlors having our make up and hair done. Tough life let me tell you... The limos picked us up after a few pictures and we were off. The ceremony was at Ursaline Academy (the catholic school Juliet and Laurie grew up in). What a gorgeous church... The aisle felt a million miles long and they said Laurie and I walked a little fast but we did much better than most... whew! Juliet was such a beautiful bride and it just meant the world to me to stand up there with her at that special moment. The reception was a blast and just when I thought we were done... nope it was off to the red eye with Adrian somehow bartending and pretty much every wedding guest was at the bar. We shook a tail feather for a few hours and somehow had the stamina for "just one more drink" (this was the promise we were duped into going to The Republic with :). We were all tucked in bed around 4:30 only to be awakened at 9am to check out - darn that daylight savings time!!! What a lovely sight as we all met in the hotel lobby trying to track down cameras, purses, cell phones... everything was accounted for and we were off for a last lunch at superior grill. We all did some serious dog biting and we were good to go. (Thanks again Robbie and Laurie!!!) Too much fun... Now we just need to get Bull married. :)

Happy Valentines Day!

Dinner at home for two! The filets were fantastic and tasted even better served on our beautiful china!!!

Juliet's Bachelorette Party

We had the greatest time celebrating Juliet's upcoming nuptials at Portofino Island Resort in Pensacola. After some adventures on the drive there we had quite a party at the condo. With Julie, Laurie and I's lives safely in the hands of Mrs Hilda and Mrs Liz, we released the hounds and blew it out. Maybe a little too much fun. I don't think we stopped laughing all night, except to sing of course... and after Laurie's Rocky impression, I'll never look at a pillow sham the same way. Love you girls! I'll never forget it! Those were memories to last a lifetime.. and aren't we SO SO SO glad your moms were there to get every embarrassing moment on camera! Here is just a glimpse at the worst of it... good times :)

Showman's club Trade Show 2008. Not an event I expected to be attending on my drive home Monday night. Mark was working this detail and apparently its one big party, even for the cops working it. He invited me to stop by and 3 1/2 hours later I was on my way home with a belly full of new york strip and a new opinion of carnival folk. I have never seen such a thing, I had no idea the carnival industry was so HUGE! Yes the Guarino's like the carnies! And the carnie's like the Guarino's! One even grabbed Mark's booty! Everyone mark your calendars for Showman's 2009-you don't want to miss it!

HEY BIG JOHN! :) Ahh the Bret Michael's concert... I hate that I still love him with the show he's on now. But I do and we had a blast at the concert! He's old and tired but his show was amazing!

Today we went to Jenn and Jason's baby shower. Little Rivers will be here before we know it! Congratulations! We love you!

Gaspirilla

Welcome home daddy! Mark had a hard day at work out on the parade route protecting the city from the city's drunkest.

New Orleans

Mark and I just got back from another trip to New Orleans. This trip was all about Juliet and Adrian. The wedding party (myself included :) threw them a couples shower at the Bulldog on Canal Street. We had a ton of fun, just wish it could have been a little warmer! Whew! This Florida girl had a tough time with it!