Sisterly Love

Happy Birthday, Joanna Louise! Welcome to 23. Not a very exciting year, but hey...you can still say you're in your early 20's. Lucky. I love you, sis, and I miss your gorgeous face.

Grandmama

Today my Grandmama turns 88! She is such a role model and inspiration to me. I am so blessed to have her in my life. Happy Birthday Grandmama.

The One with Thanksgiving

I know I've been very absent as of late. Work has been crazy... Football season continues as we go into playoff season ranked #2 in the city. All roads lead to the city championship at the Coliseum.

I'm so excited about Thanksgiving next week! We have a fantastic day planned with lots of friends. I'm imagining this to be something like FRIENDS, my favorite sitcom of all time. I'm going to begin baking on Monday and then I will be joining the girls on Thursday for a fun day of cooking, football and hanging out with friends. I'll be sure to put up lots of pictures from our festive event. Also in the plans is some Black Friday madness, followed by a weekend trip to Phoenix. Stay tuned!

Goodbye October

This month has been a very busy one (and still busy because I've been working on this stupid blog post for 3 days now), but also full of lots of fun! This weekend we watched the Florida/Georgia game with much excitement and then went to a Halloween party hosted by Casey and her roommates. I can officially say that this is the geekiest costume I've ever come up with, but I was pretty proud that I pulled it off in 24 hours. Jon and I dressed up as members of the Dharma Initiative from one of our favorite TV shows, LOST. (If you are a follower hopefully you will appreciate it, if not you will just think that I dressed up as a janior) Fortunately for me, there are scifi nuts out there much nerdier than myself who spent painstaking time creating food and drink labels to disguise your party food as Dharma issued rations. I discovered all of this literally on Friday night and printed off some labels to put on the beer we brought to the party. It was a big hit. And who knows, maybe it will make a reappearance for the Season 6 Premiere.

And here's our friend Adam in his very elaborate Rubik's cube costume that took him all day to make. But SO worth it!

Sunday farmer's market in Glendale. We stumbled upon a vendor called Big Mistah's BBQ. Jon was nearly drooling and got his wish for a delicious pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw. The greens were also very excellent.

Here's a review of our busy month and all the pictures and blog posts that I didn't have time to write.

Oktoberfest with my darling roommate

Matt Hires @ The Mint

Me & our friend Vince, Matt's new tour manager

Get On Your Boots

Last night can be cataloged as the most incredible audiovisual experience of my life. Seeing U2 in concert has been on my wish list for some time now and I can say with great enthusiasm that it definitely exceeded my expectations! The Black Eyed Peas also opened with an incredible performance and a surprise appearance by Slash playing Sweet Child of Mine.

All of this was streamed live on YouTube last night plus the entire concert was filmed to make the U2 360 Tour DVD. I'm already holding my breath until it comes out.

Taking the train to Pasadena

THE Rose Bowl (Maybe we'll be here again come January....)

Stay tuned for next weekends Halloween extravaganza. It's going to be good!

Fall Farm Fun

This weekend Jonathan and I drove up to NorCal this weekend to visit the Dell'Osso Family Farm. The Dell'Ossos are family friends of ours and they open up the farm to the public every October. I was excited to be able to get up there this year. We rode the rides, picked pumpkins, solved the corn mazes, and helped out a bit on Saturday. It was great fall fun!

picking pumpkins

scarecrow contest

tractor ride

the lovely Annette Dell'Osso in the Country Store

corn maze

above the maze

What's your story?

Some of you know, I have been a supporter of an incredible organization called ROSA LOVES. Today I want to take the opportunity to do a little promo for them and their new fall line. Here's the short gist... each shirt that ROSA LOVES designs tells a story, a story about someone in need. The proceeds of each shirt goes to meet that person's need. Once the need is met the shirt is discontinued. Other shirts are designed to promote the organization and keep them running. The newest shirt in my collection will is this one: "Eric's Notes". It tells the story of an Indonesian fisherman named Made in the words of my quasi-cousin/dear friend, Eric Hires. Thanks to Eric and ROSA LOVES, Made now has a new fishing boat so that he can provide for his family

Check out the website to get the full rundown. These shirts make GREAT gifts. One Christmas I bought one for each of my sisters and printed out the whole story behind each one. Here's some pictures of other new shirts.

(Photo Credit: ROSA LOVES)

My FL Trip and playing catch up

I have been very busy since I returned from my trip. Fall is wonderful but gives no rest for the weary. Here's the recap...

I had a wonderful time in Orlando last weekend. I stayed with my boy's football team at Disney's All Star Resort. Fortunately my amazing family all came down from Gainesville (and over from Oviedo) to visit me. Our game wasn't pretty, we lost to Osceola HS 13-32, but fortunately no major injuries which left me free to play. I spent all day Saturday hanging out at my wonderful Auntie's house with the parents and my extended family. Saturday night I went to watch the UF/UK game downtown with some of my grad school classmates and a bar full of other alumni. This is when I discovered something that the West Coast has been sheltering me from... the Firefly. This glorious spirit is distilled in South Carolina and is SWEET TEA FLAVORED!

Sunday I had the privilege of visiting my friends from the church that I worked at in college, Christ Fellowship. There is a large group that has transplanted to the West Orange area. Overall, it was a wonderful weekend for me to see friends and family.

I have my plate full with football and teaching. Our by week is next weekend so I have a little trip planned. Stay tuned!

Hidden Treasures

Today Jonathan and I stumbled upon a great little antique shop in Pasadena. We went crazy when we found the book section...Chaucer, Milton, Dickens, Stoker, Dumas, Twain...so many great old books. I finally decided on a 1930 copyright edition of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe and the Sherlock Holmes Series by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I am so excited to have these classics to add to my collection!

Sky ablaze