Savannah/Hilton Head via Friends

My 30th birthday fell on a Monday which happened to be our travel day back home from Savannah/Hilton Head/Atlanta. We got home in the early afternoon and after opening cards and gifts and reading facebook messages I couldn't help but feel anything but overwhelmingly blessed. And as I lay on the couch responding to facebook emails I thought, "30?! This is great... I don't feel a day over 24!" It is then that I realized I had just taken 3 ibuprofen and was wrapped up in my body-size heating pad! Whatever works, right?

My friends and Justin offered to celebrate with me in Savannah this year. Justin and I had never been to Savannah, so we were excited to visit the southern city. Our 4 hour ride from Atlanta to Savannah turned in to a 6 hour ride, so we took advantage and visited the sites along the way. Oh, you didn't know Dairy Queen of Macon in the Exxon gas station was a must see? Surprisingly, our little southern town doesn't have a Dairy Queen, so the mini blizzards are a big time treat!



Our hotel was amazing, as was the weather, as was the downtown. The first night we were there we ventured out to experience the night life and at 11:30 Christina said, "It's YOUR birthday, what do YOU want to do?" But of course... what any true 30 year old party girl past her prime would say... "Go to bed." Maybe it was because our husbands were there or maybe because we are getting older, but it didn't go unnoticed that went on birthday vacation, had cocktails and never got drunk. Never even stayed out past 12:30, but we were staying in the Westin and they do have those heavenly beds. Best.Sleep.In.A.Long.Time.

Saturday we ventured over to Hilton Head Island to enjoy the HHI Westin and their beach! The weather was perfect... sunny and beautiful, but not hot and the beach wasn't overly crowded. Truly, we had the best of both worlds experiencing the southern charm of Savannah and the beach! What more could a birthday girl as for?

As with any vacation, it was over MUCH too soon, but I am so grateful and humbled to be surrounding by such kind-loving people. Thank you, Justin, Christina and Ken for making sure I felt celebrated and loved. I've never felt more.

Michael Cohen Marshall

day of blogging silence to honor Megan & Brent & remember baby Cohen. Click picture for cohen's story.

Gretchen Wilson is stuck in my head!

Our neighbor is a huge Mississippi State Fan and we've been itching to get out of town for some college baseball, so it was decided that we'd scratch this itch at Super Bulldog weekend in Starkvegas with Mississippi St. hosting Tennessee. His girlfriend suggested that we buy seats in the stadium, but he would not hear of it! It was decided that we'd sit out in left field on trailers. I couldn't quite picture it, but this is what we rolled up on!


Cue Gretchen...I am a redneck woman! This totally reminded me of the rooftop bleachers in the outfield at Wrigley. If the rooftop bleachers were on the roof of a beat up truck! Of course, I loved the junker charm of it all and was amazed at the creative efforts that people went to to ensure the maximum tailgating baseball experience!



We had our trailer all to ourselves and it was a perfect day for baseball. The high was 75 and ever so often a breeze found us. Funny how times change... I used to BAKE at baseball games. This day I came armed with my hat to cover my face, 30spf sunscreen and an umbrella! Somehow, I managed to still get some sun! Pretty wild, huh?


These are our neighbors! I'm pretty sure you've met their fur-babies, but here are their pretty faces! Aren't they cute? We adore them! The boys both share a major love of modern warfare, which affords us girls lots of magazine reading, gossiping & trash tv!

It's hard to naturally photograph tv watching and magazine reading, so I'm so glad we finally got a picture together!

Brown Eyed Bride

Ali & Cody got married last weekend and Justin and I had the special privilege of attending their wedding festivities! I know that many of you also follow her over at Brown Eyed Blogg, so I'm sure she'll be sharing many more pictures from the week, but I thought I'd show y'all some of the ones I took!

Justin and I made a weekend of it and went to Little Rock early to get some shopping done and enjoy staying in a downtown hotel. Saturday night was the Bride's personal shower, held at the Capital Hotel, so we took a picture in front of the tree!

The guy that took our picture accidentally moved the camera before it actually snapped, but I thought it was funny ~ top & bottom view!

On to the wedding! It was at the beautiful Marlsgate plantation in Scott, Arkansas. Justin and I got ready that morning and headed over. We pulled up and saw the beautiful arrangement for an outside ceremony.

OOPS! I was the ONE girl there that didn't wear opaque tights. When we got married 2 years ago on this weekend it was NOT cold. Oh well ~ the ceremony was beautiful, and Justin brought his wool coat to wrap around my legs like a blanket.

Nice touch ~ Ali's family members wore one color of pashminas and Cody's wore another. I believe all of their dresses were different, but honestly you couldn't tell. If you're getting married soon and can't pick bridesmaid dresses, you should totally consider doing this. Let the girl pick their style so they can feel comfortable! I could NOT tell a difference and I'm hyper critical of that kind of stuff and I thought they all looked fantastic!

This was so unique ~ it was their guest book that little artsy~fartsy Ali created and it was soooo cool! I'm assuming that she'll frame this in their home. What a neat memento to have forever.

Me and the blushing bride! {My blush needs to be darker} Ali was stunning! Her hair was perfect {naturally}, she looked amazing and her dress was timeless.

We love you, Ali & Cody! Thanks for allowing us to be apart of your VERY special day!

~Harper~

When we first moved to Tupelo almost a year ago {gasp!} I found an instant friend through this blog, Shanda. It was so nice to be in a new place and already have a built in shopping buddy, going out to eat buddy & wine drinking buddy!

Not long after we met the Lord saw it fit to bless Shanda & Brett with a baby! Our shopping and wine drinking turned into shopping for nursery furniture!

Ladies ~ you have to see how good Shanda looked! Here she is 2 months almost to the day before Harper was born! Yes, I realize I might look more pregnant than her, but that's a compliment, because she looked amazing!

{Labor Day Party September 2009}

[holly, christina, brittany, ME & shanda (harper)]

If Justin and I are good for anything, we are good for food! So last night we loaded up the car with Chick-fil-A Sandwiches and sides and Chicken Spaghetti for a later meal so we could distract Mom & Dad and get some Harper time!

And without further adieu... Miss Harper Eden.

Little Miss Princess stayed asleep our entire visit, but woke up just in time for pictures! Right as her Daddy snapped this one she exploded into her diaper. Does that mean she likes me?


Now she's looking at me like she's not so sure about me. Or maybe she's thinking she needs one of my flowers to put on her headband. She'll have to ask nicely.

All this picture taking can wear a girl out! I would have taken more pictures, but that would have meant that I would have had to hand her off to someone else. I did let Justin hold her for a minute.

Shanda & Brett ~ we LOVE her already! She is simply beautiful and we can't wait to see her again very very soon!

Christina & Ken's Tupelo Visit

From the bottom of my heart & soul ~ thank you for your prayers...I felt every one of them. I am overwhelmed by the love that my friends & blog friends have so freely given me and my family during this time. Truly, this is what it means to be blessed, indeed. The funeral was Friday & it was a perfect tribute to Zach's life and so moving to all who were in attendance.

~~~~~~~~~~

It seems like with all that's gone on in the past week that Labor Day weekend & Christina & Ken's visit was over a month ago! The week has flown by almost as fast as their visit!

We love having them here or being there, because they are our twin couple! This means the guys enjoy hanging out together, because they can watch TV in silence for hours on end and the girls can talk until there are no words {never} and shop until we honestly drop.

I don't remember to take pictures of every minute of every activity that I do during my daily lives, but I had to take a picture of this. For all of you women who are counting every last calorie & spend time thinking about input/output, but are subsequently dating/married to the man who is basically a bottomless pit. Christina & Lesli ~ THOSE GIRLS, MARRIED TO THOSE MEN!

BOYS- GRANDS Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls

Reduced Fat Cinnamon Rolls - GIRLS

It's disheartening that both of these rolls had to share the same table. You don't realize exactly how wonk-wonk the RF rolls are until they are next to the king of all rolls. I digress...

I've been bad, in recent years, about taking pictures of big weekends or nights out, so I purposely tried to be better this weekend! I thought we got a lot of fun shots. I've already shown you the half marathon, so here's Saturday's pictures!

Every time I take pictures with Christina I reconsider my decision to quit tanning! Did y'all hear that Doctors are pushing to make tanning illegal to teens under the age of 18. I recently heard that tanning put you at much risk for cancer as smoking! Can you imagine turning your nose up to tanners like people do to smoking? Thank the Lord for spray tans!

We spent Saturday at the mall and shopping in the area, then went out for the typical PreMarathon carbo-load dinner at our favorite little Italian/Pizza Place in town. We had to take this picture immediately, before Christina's hair grew 2 inches outward and mine frizzed into a million strands!

It was, and still is, hard to believe that that same weekend 2 years ago we were celebrating their WEDDING! Like our weekend together, time has flown by, but Justin & I are already counting down the minutes until we can hang out again! We love you guys!

She's Fun & Flirty ~ Look Who's THIRTY!

{Me & The BiRtHdAy GiRl @ Tryst in Wynn, Las Vegas}

I've been away from the blog for a couple of weeks, and it wasn't necessarily my choosing, but it was a very nice break. However, I figured no better day than today to come back, because it's SOMEONE's BIRTHDAY!

Yep, it's Allie's 30th Birthday! GIRL ~ I'm a little depressed that I won't get to be there to celebrate, but I keep playing out scenarios of how I can sneek away to be apart! You never know... I might just show up at your door with my party panties on Friday! Regardless of being here or there, I hope you have the best 30th birthday {week} you can dream up, but save a little bit of celebrating for our Birthday Celebration Trip! HaPpY hApPy BiRtHdAy, SISTER! Love your GUTS!

Please, Please, Please take a moment out of your blog~reading & click on over to www.SCHMAL.blogspot.com so you can wish Allie the happiest of Birthdays! She deserves ALL the best & trust me, if you knew her ~ she'd be your best friend too!

Rockwall County Line

Hi friends! April has been such a whirlwind month, but maybe the best of 2009! As soon as we got back from Orange Beach, we immediately had to throw ourselves completely into our work. Then the next thing I knew my MIL was knocking at my door to spend the week. I mostly rearranged my suitcase and then headed back out the door to spend a weekend in Rockwall County with my Fat Chicks. {Please don't think I'm being rude... in case you don't know, I have a weight loss blog with 3 of my friends ~ www.fourfatchicks.blogspot.com}

As it turns out... when 4 good friends get together there ends up being 2 point & shoot cameras, 1 SLR camera & 3 iPhones taking pictures all of different things. When we got back from Vegas, I looked at ALL of the pictures over and over and over. I just uploaded mine, and they are random & mostly blurry, EXCEPT... I got pics of the most beautiful kids in the Dallas area!

Allie always gets to show them off, but I've found that when I'm around them with my camera I can't help but snap away. The 3 of them are the easiest subjects, because they are simply gorgeous. Meet ~ Logan, Layton & Landry.

for more on these 3 dolls please visit they blogs of Gerhart Gang & Aunt Sis. Love you kiddos ~ miss y'all already!

"on a pillow of bluebonnets & a blanket made of stars" ~ Cowboy Take Me Away

This past week I lifted a 6 year ban on a band I used to love. The Dixie Chicks. President Bush told them it was ok to speak their mind, and it is, but it still hurt my feelings and I quit listening. COLD TURKEY FOR 6 YEARS! Something about being back in the deep south and the music selection at Wal*Mart being ONLY country made me talk myself into calling a truce.

My freshman year of college their album Wide Open Spaces had been out for about a year, and Katy {my roommate} and I BLASTED this album from our stereo just about daily until they called a hall meeting about keeping your music down. We were two girls from East Texas and we loved The Dixie Chicks to the point of repeat & bordering on obsession. When I heard Wide Open Spaces played on this album I got a little tear in my eye thinking back to all our freshman year fun 10 years ago & how much I've missed the old Dixie Chicks.

Life is a little different from how it was in that tiny dorm room 10 years ago, but I couldn't help but think when I bought this CD of the fun The Four Fat Chicks are going to have singing every word at the top of our lungsin a few weeks on our girls weekend! "IIIIIIIII'LLLLLLLL FLY AWAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY on a SIN WAGON!"

Ps~ for the record... I can't stand when people talk ugly about our current president either. I believe it's the hardest job in the land, and I am not qualified to do it. When I am, I can judge.

a day in Bobby Flay's house

I really thought about just putting up big fat links to Allie & Ryan's blogs for Vegas updates, because both of them have done a FABULOUS job recapping our trip, but then I figured I couldn't hide forever. But really... have you read their updates? They are GREAT ~ Allie Vegas Updates & Ryan Vegas Updates!

The truth is, when I get back from vacation, EVERY.SINGLE.TIME, I sink down into a major depressed mood and I can't unpack because that would mean vacation was over, and I can't blog and I can't even talk on the phone. All I can do is look at the pictures over and over again. Which can't be too fun for my sweet other half, so I had to rally for him. I've been home for almost a week, so now I'm rallying for you.

To indulge our inner Fat Chick, we've all been posting beautiful pictures with a delicious run down of our meal at Bobby Flay's place over at WWW.FourFatChicks.Blogspot.com, so you HAVE to go read about what we devoured!

{Lesli with Scrambled Egg Enchiladas ~ delish!}

I have to say, Mesa was one of my favorite experiences of Vegas, but let's face it I'm a total sucker for a fabulous meal shared with my best girls. We got there early, so the restaurant wasn't crowded and the staff truly made us feel like we were the most valuable customers in the entire place. They were kind and attentive, but not annoying and pushy... totally scored customer service points for me.


We shared our food, we talked, we laughed, and then I came up with a brilliant idea. We are three girls that KNOW our way around the kitchen and feel most at home there, so why not ask the darling little General Manager if we couldn't take a peek in. The worst he can say is NO, right?


He offered to do us one better and took us on an in depth TOUR of the kitchen! See what I mean about most valuable customers? It was incredible & beautiful, to say the least. Honestly, my knees were weak the entire time. Food has a way with me.

{Allie, Ryan, & Lesli ~ Sauce Prep & Grill}

He took us around the every cooking area and station and described what each cook was making. We all took full advantage of thanking our Chefs face to face. We saw the prep area, the ENORMOUS vat of HouseMade Chicken Stock and he even took us up to the rotisserie that over looks the entire restaurant. He told us they had to eventually shut the half a million dollar rotisserie down because it wasn't cooking the chicken properly. We suggested they turn it into a chef's table for VIPs and of course VICs.

It was a moment that was special to us and I'm thinking Kitchen Tours will become a MUST on the rest of our culinary adventures

honey, I'm home!

In case any of you were worried, I made it back safely and in one piece. I'm still a little exhausted, very sad to be away from my friends and thankful to have a husband and little Lola happily waiting for me at the door. The three of us are sorting through all of our pictures while trying to get back to the normal routine of our life.

Please check back for updates from our vacation and particularly our time in the kitchen at Bobby Flay's restaurant. I am not kidding.

vegas on my mind

My Vegas vacation is in sight! Seems so crazy that when I asked for your Las Vegas suggestions it was 40 something days away and now I can practically count down the minutes!

I've spent a lot of time over the past month and a half day dreaming about what our big girl vacation is going to be like, and I have a feeling that it's going to be a girls trip to end all girls trips. I mean until we plan our next one, which of course we already have some ideas working in the tickler.

Do y'all think it's crazy that Allie & I are meeting up with a perfect stranger, Ryan? Ryan comes from good people, because everyone is worried about her safety & I just keep thinking... I've done much crazier things and made much worse decisions in my life than to meet bubbly little blonde from Oklahoma for vacation.

Like for example... I used to get my eye brows threaded by this indian woman in Austin AT HER HOUSE... not her salon... her HOUSE. She lived in a different apartment every time I went to her and her number was always different. If Rahaat had of wanted me dead, my body would still be missing! Oh the things I would do for a good deal when I was young and stupid.

Of course I could go on and on, but for the sake of protecting my mother from embarrassment and the innocent I'll stop with Rahaat.

Please pardon my one track mind this week, because I only seem to have VEGAS on my mind and all the one million things I need to get done and packed and the dance moves that need to be practiced, teeth to be bleached, last chance workouts to get in and the menus that need to be read. Good grief I am so ready for this.

Putting on the layers

You met my *NEW* sweet friend Shanda yesterday, so I thought it fitting to share with you some of our Superbowl Supper. Did y'all know that the meal you eat at night is supper? Now that I'm in Mississippi I eat DINNER at Noon and SUPPER at night. Therefore we had a Superbowl Supper.

I braised some DELISH ribs and baked some cheddar dill cornbread from scratch, but all I got a picture of was the appetizer spread minus the fresh salsa and bacon wrapped stuffed jalapenos. OOPS! They were both definite "do-overs" in our house, so perhaps I'll let you peak in on round two. Wish you could just come over and try them in person, because they were so low cal, but highly tasty.

Here's the appetizer spread that got us through to halftime when our supper was ready to be served. Guess which side of the table the weight watcher was responsible for?

Yeah, not the bacon tomato cups or the cheesey bread bowl.

Here's my side of the table... the Texas Caviar and the Layered Mexican Bean Dip.

Do y'all know what Texas Caviar is? The best way for me to describe it is crack in a bowl. Black eyed peas, red bell peppers, green bell peppers, jalapenos, onions and dash of red wine vinegar and fat free italian dressing. I ran out of my 1 point serving of chips and looked at my spoon with devilish eyes.

However, it's the OTHER dip that I just had to share with not only my Fat Chick friends, but all my sweet bloggy friends, because the entire time I was eating this all I could think was EVERY ONE HAS TO KNOW ABOUT THIS IMMEDIATELY. I could probably eat an entire bowl of layered dip if I really put my mind to it, so you can imagine my surprise when I found there was a healthier version. Even if you aren't technically watching your weight, it never hurts to cut calories in a new place. It was almost as surprising to me as FAT FREE REFRIED BEANS! Somewhere in my youth or childhood I must have done something good to deserve FAT FREE REFRIED BEANS!

So here's how it plays out...

Ingredients
16 oz fat-free canned refried beans
3 medium avocado, finely mashed
1/4 tsp table salt
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 cup(s) fat-free sour cream
2 tbsp Old El Paso Fajita Seasoning Mix, or other brand
1/2 cup(s) Weight Watchers Reduced Fat Shredded Mexican-Style Cheese
1 small tomato(es), chopped
2 medium scallion(s), sliced
10 medium olive(s), black, sliced or chopped
2 tbsp cilantro, fresh, chopped

Instructions
~Spread beans evenly over bottom of a 9- X 13-inch glass baking dish or a medium-size glass bowl.

~In a20small bowl, combine avocado, salt and lemon juice. Spread avocado mixture over beans; top with sour cream.

~Sprinkle fajita seasoning over sour cream layer. Next, layer remaining ingredients on top in order listed.

~Serve immediately or chill until ready to use. Yields about 1/4 cup of dip per serving.

Which brings me to this... it's WEIGH IN DAY at Four Fat Chicks! Did we GAIN or did we lose?

Blog readers might be strangers, but they aren't that strange.

I, like most of you, read blogs through the Google Reader. One of my favorite things about google reader is that it picks an assortment of blogs that I might be interested in. Really, if you're a blog lover and keep up with more than a couple of blogs you should really look into Google Reader. I won't even get mad atcha if you want to just read this blog from reader and never directly hit again. So, in the past few months that I've used google reader I've started following numerous blogs that belong to people that I've met only through the crazy little thing called the world wide web.

The thing I hate about google reader actually has nothing to do with google reader at all, but I HATE when people that I've been following through reader make their blogs private because they are worried about all the creepy people lurking in the blog reader world. No, I am NOT going to email you so I can be invited to your private blog reading party unless you are my REAL LIFE FRIEND, because that's where blog strangers start to get the creepy wrap. Call me naive, but I think that if all of us blog readers got together to share a glass of wine and all our stories, we'd find out that we're really not that creepy after all.

If you'll remember in December, I posted that I was moving to Tupelo, Mississippi, and blog lover Shanda mentioned she lived nearby and liked to eat and shop there. Since I hate eating and shopping I never contacted her again. The End.

Only kidding! We met at the mall a week after I have arrived and have found time to see each other at least once a week since then to share meals or drag the stores! It boggles my mind a little to think about how people randomly come into your life and you share many similarities. She and I love the wine, love to shop and love to goss... we are both newly-wed to husbands that err on the conservative side of life... hers is a preacher and mine went to seminary. See, all us blog readers are more alike than we probably think.

While Justin is my other half, it goes without saying that women need other women...be it in person, through google reader or over the phone. It's amazing how developing a relationship with a good girlfriend can make you feel settled and at home. Today marks my first month in Tupelo and I can honestly say that it's a pleasure to be here.

Lesli & Shanda

SuperBowl Supper 2009

how sorry are you?

My sweet friend Allie and I have this terrible unfortunate relationship with the United States Postal Service. We mail stuff to each other a lot (her to me a lot more than me to her because I'm FOR-GET-FUL. With about every 5 things we send through the mail it either arrives in 30 mangled pieces OR it's returned to us in 30 mangled pieces. Like right now, it's February 3 and I never received her Christmas card, because it got banged up 15 days into the delivery process, so they gave up and sent it back to her.

I've been patiently waiting for a care package to arrive from my sweet friend Ryan and it finally got here Saturday! Pictured above is how it arrived. To protect both of us from crazies (I kid.) I can't show you the rest of the mutilated box and our addresses. However, I would like to take this opportunity to thank to United States Postal Service for taking the time to ease my pain with that sticker.

Here's what I'm think... if you're REALLY sorry... throw in a book of stamps next time or send me some of those pre-paid boxes, your treat. Deal?

It's a Girl's Trip!

I haven't let the cat out of the bag here on the old blog, but since it's exactly 1 month away and it's consuming a LOT of my thoughts, my work outs and my shopping trips, I thought I better share.

If you missed Ryan's blog yesterday then you missed a good laugh. When I clicked on her blog I about spilled my Metamucil I was laughing so hard. In case you can't tell... from left to right ~ Lesli (Kendra), Ryan (Holly) and Allie (Bridget). Ryan picked the Girls Next Door, because according to her it was the only picture she could find of 3 girls together. I for one am not complaining because I do not hate being tall and skinny.

If you couldn't figure it out by the picture... 3 of the 4 fat chicks are headed to LAS VEGAS! We have 1 more month until go day and I am giddy with excitement. Sadly for me, the other fat chick is going the week before. wonk wonk.

Our itinerary includes eating, shopping and more eating! Well, and if weather cooperates perhaps some time at our hotel pool... we're staying at The Wynn. I will make no promises about being good with my eating and working out while I'm there, but I PROMISE I will work hard before and pick right back up when I return home. Wait, dancing counts as cardio, right?

EVERYONE has a vegas suggestion, so when you think of things that you love about vegas what is something that you think the 3 fat chicks would enjoy while living it up in sin city?

two ways to kill time today

It is with great pleasure that I can introduce the blogs of two of my very good friends that you might have noticed on my sidebar. When I browse y'alls blogs I wonder how you know the people you link to, and in case any of you wonder that about mine I'm here to take the guess work out of it for you. It also gives me the chance to showcase mi amigos and amigas.

First off... Andy

andy with his beautiful new wife meredith

Andy and I have been friends and know each other longer than anyone else on my links. There was a time in my life when I loved his brother, and now I am very glad that he is one of my closest friends even after a tumultuous high school break up. Oh the drama of high school! Andy and I share a lot of inside jokes and he can make me laugh in a single sentence over text message. {This ain't Gawd Danged Dairy Queen!} I hope I just made him laugh. Anyway, about his blog. Andy created a blog to post and track his new years resolution to be a better Andrew. He has made being a better person into a game by assigning points to tasks that he does. I so enjoy his writing style and of course his ability to be honest and raw about his actions. Andy, if you're reading this, your comments are broken. I've tried to comment several times and they don't show up!

Second... Shawna

shawna and her fiance oliver.

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey! Shawna and I go way back to Kick U! Shawna will always hold the honor for teaching me about blogs and getting me into to writing one. If you enjoy visiting ALifeLesOrdinary, you should thank her! Hers was one of the first blogs that I ever read and I'm glad that she's FINALLY opening it up to the entire world to read! It's a fantastic time to join her journey, because in Four Fat Chicks style she is trying to lose weight and doing a dang good job at it and also... she's making an honest man out of Oliver in April! I couldn't be happier for the two of them and have loved being apart (via email/phone) of their entire relationship! Also, Shawna does a very good job at reviewing movies, as she was a movie major AND see most movies when they come out. I trust her judgment every time. Did you know that, Shawna?


Anyway ~ y'all be sure and give Andy & Shawna a proper welcome and perhaps a comment. Don't be shy... every loves to get nice comments.


Third ... it's WEIGH IN time on Four Fat Chicks! I'm sure you've been waiting since last Friday to see how we did and if I'd recover from the nasty gain! ick!

under the wire

I made it... in more ways than one! For the final day of November I posted just under the wire (even on the East Coast) and for the trek from Austin in Post-Thanksgiving traffic I made it to Rockwall! Lola and I were in bumper to bumper traffic for MANY hours longer than we would have liked to have been, because we decided that the best move would be to leave Austin at 2pm. Which was the precise time that everyone else visiting the heart of Texas decided to leave for home. Thankfully I had a friendly pit stop along the way to rest my weary traveling heart.

Justin and I are in separate cars for the first leg of our trip, and will reunite when we leave my family to head to Kentucky. Thank the Laud, because I am not the distance traveler I used to be! Lola and I got very bored of our trip... the music got old, there were no new blogs to read, and Texas got third in the BCS rankings... son of a. Well, at least it's not Tech. (like any of us thought that would happen).

Now we are all weary from our first leg of travel, Ok maybe not weary, because if we're weary now we're in for a long trip...but safe and happy in Rockwall. Check that... Little Miss Lola is not weary ~ she traveled sitting pretty like the princess she is.