A Wine-y Party

A few weekends ago, Reed and I attended the Blanks's 2nd annual wine-tasting Christmas party. We had SUCH a wonderful time! This party is truly one of our favorites! Here's how it goes down: the girls bring a bottle of white wine and the boys bring a bottle of red wine -- each wine is wrapped in a brown paper sack and identified by numbers (for whites) and letters (for reds) -- the girls group tastes one while the boys taste the other -- we mark on our sheets the different wines going from favorite to least favorite -- after much tallying the winners and losers are revealed! It really is so much fun to see which wines win and I must do a little bit of bragging...the stacys WON for favorite red wine!!! My husband is a great wine picker-outer! Thanks Shannon & David for hosting and inviting us to such a fun get together...we love you!!

my girls

reed, david and jacob

me, kristin and morgan

celebrating our red wine WIN...we were so excited!!

The Egg Bowl 2010

I cannot believe Thanksgiving and the Egg Bowl have already come & gone...seriously, where does the time go?! Thanksgiving with the Stacy family was so great and very relaxing. Reed & I ate a TON (literally) and watched football for 2 days straight. I even braved the Black Friday crowds and got started on my Christmas shopping! We, of course, made the trek to Oxford for the Egg Bowl. I swear, there is nothing like the Grove...especially in the fall on a gameday. It was a special treat to hang out with the Carr fam too!! We miss them so much and always love getting together when they find the time to leave sunny Florida and head north. Needless to say, we have a lot to be thankful for - great friends, Oxford, family and the Ole Miss Rebels!!

me & sis on gameday

reed & matthew in the grove

me & mh in the grove

Big Orange Country

A few weekends ago, I traveled to Knoxville, TN with some of my Dyersburg friends for a fun-filled girl's weekend! AJ, Stacye and myself realized that we haven't taken a girl's trip since the winter of 2002...when we traveled all the way to NYC. So, needless to say, we were long overdue for some girl time! After picking up AJ in Memphis, we headed to Nashville to grab Stacye then made our way (slowly) to Big Orange Country to watch the Rebs take on the Vols. AJ was a little outnumbered (being the only UT fan out of the bunch) but she was a great sport, especially since the Vols beat up on the Rebels the entire game. She didn't brag one bit and Stacye & I thank her for it. I was able to meet up with my sis and do a little tailgating Knoxville-style. FYI: they actually use tailgates, on trucks. Even though I'm a Tennessee girl, I'll always be a Rebel! Hotty Toddy!

stacye, aj & me after the game...

sister, sister

GO REBELS!

our crew

dyersburg girls...different teams

ole miss girls!!

Ringing in the Season

Mistletoe Marketplace, put on by the Junior League of Jackson, is one of my favorite weeks in November. The shopping, the food and the fun never fall short of spectacular. Everyone loves the Preview Gala but my favorite party this year was the 80's party...better known as "Ringing in the Season with the Molly Ringwalds." Now, if you don't know who the Molly's are then you are REALLY missing out and must go to their website (www.themollyringwalds.com) to find their nearest and closest show. Reed & I decided to attendin our most fabulous 80's attire and if you know Reed, it was a MIRACLE that I was able to get him to dress up! We had a blast and were only reminded of how much we love being children of the best decade...the 80's!!!

the athletic look & the preppy look...

we love the 80's!!!

Tigers Ate Da Bears

Well, Ole Miss vs. Auburn weekend didn't turn out exactly as we hoped. The Ole Miss Rebel Black Bears didn't exactly win the game but fun was still had by all. This was the first game where we had almost everyone in our tent there...the only ones missing were the newlyweds (see post below)! This season has been particularly hard to get everyone in the Grove at the same time so it was a treat to have all of our sweet friends in one place! We did have a new addition to the tent...a 32 inch flat screen! Needless to say, it was a big hit and MUCH better than the Sat-Go. Hotty Toddy!

enjoying the 3D commerical during half-time

enjoying that new flat screen tv...

my precious Phi Mu sister...thanks for my sticker sis!!

my precious sister/brother-in-law...kate is turning into an ole miss girl after all!!

Happy 5th Birthday Carter!!

Our angel-face of a niece turned 5 years old on November 1st. I'm still having a hard time believing that Carter is growing up so fast. She is such a sweet, smart and loving little girl and we love her more and more every day. Carter is obsessed with all Disney princesses so it was only fitting that she had a princess tea party to celebrate turning 5. Below are some pics:

cinderellas & belles were everywhere!!

sweet, precious family...

how cute is caroline reed?! she loved having all of those princesses around!!

happy birthday tootsie! we love you!!!

It's Greek to Me

I officially feel VERY old and all it took was several hundred 18 year-old girls running all over campus to give me this feeling. Last Sunday was BID DAY at Ole Miss...FINALLY! After thinking that it would never get here, it actually did. And...my perfect, adorable baby sister went PHI MU!!!!!!! I am so very happy and excited for her...and a tiny bit jealous too! Her pledge class is absolutely precious and Syd doesn't look too shabby in pink either! The Phi Mu house has always been one of my favorite houses on campus and I can't wait to spend more time there this time around (if they'll let an ancient, 29 year-old married lady in there, that is)!!! Congratulations Syd...you are going to love being Greek and love being a Phi Mu...now, what is the date for your first party because I think I would make the perfect date?!!!

sisterly shot...are those bid day jerseys cute or what?!

lots of new sisters and friends...

2010 pledge class...such cute girls!!!

The Kowalski's

Last weekend, Reed and I attended the Julia & Zach's wedding festivities. We had such a great time hanging out with friends and celebrating the Kowalski's! The rehearsal dinner took place in downtown Vicksburg at The BB Club and the wedding ceremony/reception was held at Smith Farm. Everything was picture perfect and so much fun! Congratulations and Best Wishes to Zach & Jules...we love you both very much!!

hayes, reed & stephen at the rehearsal dinner

nicole, katie & me at the rehearsal dinner

the altar...beautiful and built by Julia's dad!!!

i LOVE LOVE LOVE this idea...so southern and so cute!

mr. & mrs. zach kowalski!!!

PRECIOUS!

garter time...

my precious, adorable husband...and me!

best buddies...david and reed

A Little More Country Than That

Last Wednesday, Easton Corbin was playing at The Lyric in Oxford so my sis & I decided we would have some quality bonding time (and visit with Drew) by going to the concert. We had an absolute BLAST! Drew (who plays the steel guitar for Easton and is married to one of my bff's, Brooxie) was such a great host to us...he even got us backstage passes to meet the man himself! I promised Drew that we Dyersburg girls wouldn't embarrass him (since we totally did at the She-Daisy concert last year...sorry about that!) so I hope that we didn't yell too loudly when he "played pretty" as Broox likes to say!! Easton and his gang put on a GREAT show and they are all so very talented and deserving of every award and accolade they've been nominated for and/or given. Such a fun night...when's the next show?!!

meeting easton...

drew & easton doing their thing on stage...

me & sis are drewbies for sure!

we love easton!!

Back-to-Back

Well, back-to-back weekends in Oxford for the Stacy's = back-to-back WINS for the REBELS! Although it got a little close there at the end, the Rebs pulled out another victory in Vaught-Hemingway. Ole Miss vs. Kentucky weekend was a blast for us...I was able to spend LOTS of quality time with Caroline (one of my besties that currently lives in Atlanta), we had a delicious dinner at Boure on Friday night (after waiting 2+ hours), visited with friends and hung out ALL DAY in the Grove on Saturday! The weather was absolutely perfect and we couldn't have asked for a better weekend! Below are some pics...

me, reed, michael and caroline at boure

just hanging out with DEXTER before dinner...

my better half...

caro & michael (he's a georgia fan but totally loves ole miss now)!

i love this girl and miss her everyday...

katie, me, jenny lind and leighton at the tent

my gorgeous sister

Sweet Victory

I don't know if there is anything sweeter than an Ole Miss win in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium!! Last weekend, Reed & I traveled to Oxford for the Ole Miss vs. Fresno State game. This was Reed's first home game of the year to attend so he just might be a good luck charm for the Rebs!! We had a great time visiting with friends and family but it was even more fun to watch my adorable sister run across the field before kickoff!! Much to her embarrassment, she had to participate in the Rebel Run in which all members of the Ole Miss Class of 2014 had run the LONG 100 yards from the visitors section to the student section...see Syd, I told you that you wouldn't fall down!! Hotty Toddy!

me & syd at the game

the ole miss class of 2014

70.3

Last weekend, Reed and I made the 16 hour journey (roundtrip) to Branson, Missouri for his second half-ironman. We stayed at the host resort, Chateau on the Lake, which was absolutely gorgeous and we had an awesome view of the Ozark Mountains and Table Rock Lake! The race began at 7:30 am on Sunday for the 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run. The competition was stiff and the terrain was ridiculously hard (think biking through the Ozarks for 56 miles...yikes!) but Reed did GREAT! I'm continously amazed with him and all of his hard work that he puts into training for these events. This was Reed's last half-ironman of the year but he will continue to train since he's competing in a FULL Ironman next year!! Below are some pictures from the race...

reed's age group starting out on the swim

reed taking off from the bike transition for the next 56 miles

taking off from the run transition for his half-marathon