We Go Way Back

Ok, people. I don't know about you, but I'm ready to revamp the "tagged" post I keep seeing. I've really enjoyed reading all your top 5's, but now it's time to change it up a little. Spice it up, if you will. Give it some umph. And I'm taking it upon myself to do so. Now then, as I stalk all of your blogs and try to come up with one common thread it seems that most of the blogs I'm drawn to are people I know from Auburn. And if I didn't know you personally, I knew you because you were a friend of a friend. Or a friend of a friend of a friend. And if that's really not the case, I 'know" you because I'm obsessive when it comes to blogs and I read about you just for fun. I can make myself feel at ease about being so interested in the lives of people I've never met because I know everyone single one of you out there do it to! Since, like I said, most of us in the blogging circle have Auburn in common, it only seems fitting to play tag Auburn style. Auburn was/is one of the greatest loves of my life. And although I don't get back there as much as I'd like, my four years there were something so remarkable that any describing I could do would hardly do it justice. It's in my blood. It runs through my veins. It always has and it always will, no matter how many years have passed since I was there. There's no feeling in the world like driving up I-85 knowing you're about to enter the Loveliest Village on the Plains....like one of my old Successfully Orienting Students t-shirts says (that I still wear with pride)...."where the tiger roars and the eagle soars and the Plainsmen ain't so plain". It's love. Deep love. Your heart pounds like it will come through your chest at the thought of it, and you know without a shadow of a doubt that it's the best place on Earth. And oh how thankful I am to have been a part of it! Since it's so fitting, I have to share some of my most favorite words (by David Housel)....

WHAT IS AUBURN?
What is Auburn?
Far be it from me to try to answer that question. There are as many definitions of Auburn as there are Auburn men and women.
It would be safe to say, however, that Auburn is much more than a football game.

It is much more than winning and losing.
It is a spirit. It is an attitude. It is a way of looking at life and at one another. It is, almost, a way of living. Unless you have experienced it, you will never know what it is; you will never understand it. Once you have experienced it, you will never be the same. A part of you will, forevermore, be an Auburn man or an Auburn woman.
-David Housel

If that doesn't get you going, I don't know what will! So....let's get this game going!

TOP 5 THINGS YOU LOVE ABOUT AUBURN:

1. No matter where you are and what you're doing, if you spot another Auburn fan you know you're family.

2. The words "WAR EAGLE"

3. The Auburn Creed

4. The Auburn Fight Song

5. EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!

TOP 5 THINGS YOU MISS/LOVED ABOUT BEING ON CAMPUS:

1. The Concourse and how you saw everyone you knew (freshman & sophomore year especially).

2. Hearing the fight song coming from the chimes at Samford Hall every day at noon.

3. Living on The Hill and opening my dorm room window to listen to the band practice during football season.

4. Being able to swipe the Tiger Club Card like it was my job

5. Seeing the eagle in its cage as you walked to class

TOP 5 PLACES YOU SPENT MOST OF YOUR TIME IN AUBURN:

1. The COB (College of Business)

2. Dorm M on The Hill freshman year

3. Hollifield Hall (Chi O dorm) Sophomore year

4. McKee house

5. Bodega patio!!

TOP 5 PLACES TO EAT YOU MISS MOST AT AUBURN:

1. Amsterdam Cafe...can still taste the turkey wraps and pasta salad as we speak

2. Mellow Mushroom...because the one in Auburn is the ONLY good one

3. Breezeway...grilled chicken fingers...MMMM!!

4. Traditions!!! Need I say more??

5. Niffer's...didn't really like the food but we sure had some good times there!

TOP 5 FAVORITE MEMORIES FROM AUBURN:

1. Graduation day...such an accomplishment, but so very bittersweet to be leaving Auburn

2. Rush, rush, and more rush! I would have majored in it had it been an option.

3. Living in The Cave on the Chi O hall

4. Chapter every Wednesday at 5:30...I dreaded it then, and now I'd give my right arm (and probably my left) to sit in that chapter room with everyone again!

5. Greek Sing 2002...I headed it up for Chi O and we WON! I can still remember every last move of that dance. My favorite practice was when I made everyone come to the McKee house at 10:00 one night for mandatory practice...in our driveway. Ah, those were the days...

***I had to keep going...sorry

6. Campaigning for Katie Morris for SGA President sophomore year...I was in charge of recruiting her escorts and Anna Kate was in charge of finding drivers and we got to know people we otherwise wouldn't have talked to....i.e. the time we took a Katie Morris for SGA President t-shirt to Ben Leard's house so he could wear it around campus, and the time we went to Supper Club for Pat McGee and got him to wear one on stage. I think it's safe to say that AK and I would have crawled across the state Alabama had she asked us to. We loved some Katie Morris, let me tell you!

7. Diane Dow doing "Down By The River" from SNL...random that I just thought of that!

8. 61's candlelight

9. I know I already listed rush, but senior year rush was the best...I still hold the "Bop Chair" title near and dear to my heart....good times

10. Walk For A Wish senior year...Elizabeth Stewart recruited me to help her and it was hard work, lots of fun, and something so worthwhile. I think that year Chi O was in the top 3 contributors for the Make A Wish Foundation for the year!!

TOP 5 FUN THINGS TO DO IN YOUR FREE TIME AT AUBURN:

1. Freshman and sophomore year laying out in Memory Garden...every girl you'd know would be out there and you weren't cool if you missed out....just kidding!

2. Ride around on Thursday nights during football season and get the early tailgaters fired up by leading them in chants, cheers, and Auburn football songs.

3. Shopping on College Street

4. Hanging out on the Hall doing absolutely nothing productive and having the best time doing it!

5. Drive by's!!!

TOP 5 FAVORITE FOOTBALL GAMES:

1. Auburn/Alabama sophomore year

2. Auburn/Florida senior year when we won and the goalposts came down!

3. Auburn/Georgia senior year in Athens...Anna Kate, Blazer, Erika, Cameron Headlee, and I piled in one car and listened to Michael Jackson anthems the whole way. That was the night Erika designed her own Kate Spade out of a styrofoam cooler...remember E?!

4. All the away games we went to...

5. Every home game the entire 4 years!

TOP 5 FAVORITE THINGS ABOUT AUBURN FOOTBALL GAMES:

1. Tiger Walk

2. The band taking the field before the game

3. The eagle flying....leaves me with tears every time!

4. Tommy Tuberville

5. Game Day Dogs (AK & 61 will appreciate this one)

*I really shouldn't have limited it to 5...

TOP 5 THINGS ABOUT AUBURN WE KNOW AS ALUMS THAT STUDENTS NOW DON'T KNOW (could be translated "you know you're old if you remember...."):

1. Dowdeli

2. The sweet old man at Traditions who tailored suits in the back of the deli

3. Tiger Card was only accepted on campus (we came along a few years too late)

4. School started in late September and we were on the quarter system

5. Rush consisted of more than 1 skit day, less than 2 philanthropy days, bids were distributed early morning on the steps of Terrell, and it was probably a lot more fun back then!

5 FELLOW AUBURN ALUMS I'M TAGGING (I'm picking 6 b/c I can!):

1. Darby

2. Erika

3. Jess

4. Tara Verdigets

5. Jennie Marie

6. Sarah Martin

Now, get to it girls because we all want to reminisce a little more!!

Impromptu Photo Shoot

My hubby has been out of town since Wednesday for work (in Orlando, no less {the one place I've been dying to take the girls}) and is flying in tomorrow morning, so the past 4 days have been jam packed with motherly/sisterly love. It's been just us girls the entire time and we've made the most of it! This is an annual trip for Jonathan, and in the years past I've always had family come stay with us while he's gone or either we've packed up and gone to visit someone. This year I decided that we'd take full advantage of some down time and I'm so very glad we did. However, today was the last full day to ourselves and I had to get creative as to how to keep the kids entertained. You can only play babies, dollhouse, doctor, school, etc. so many times before you've got to change it up a little. So late this afternoon after a bike ride around the neighborhood, we rode a few street over to the rose garden and took a few (or 200) pictures. The only way this materialized was by promising Towns that if she cooperated we'd have a picnic there for dinner. She's entirely too busy to be still long enough for picture taking, and as you'll see in the pictures Cate's gotten that way as well. Therefore, I have very few good ones of her. Usually she's only happy if she's looking everywhere but the camera! The poor baby fell over today as she was sitting and playing in Towns' room and scratched her face, and she's very red-eyed because of her allergies. So please excuse how pitiful she looks! You can tell that her cooperation only lasted a short time before she decided she was done. Her patience wore thin pretty quickly due to lack of sleep today. I probably shouldn't have included some of the pictures of them showing their tempers, but I thought they were too funny not to share! Click here for the pics! Oh, can't forget to mention that Cate started crawling today!! It's the cutest thing I've ever seen! I LOVE that girl!!

And The Award Goes To....

....Bethany Brooks McClendon for being the best step-daughter/big sister EVER!!! You were a total rockstar last weekend and helped me out more than you know! And all without even being asked! :) I really try hard not to ask BBM to help with the girls because with 3 brothers at home and 2 sisters here, she gets her fair share of big sister duties. But sometimes she can sense that I'm about to lose it and steps right in! If I had four more hands I could handle it just fine. And since I don't, this is one of the many times Bethany is a God-send. Prime example: After the weekend's festivities (post coming later), we were exhausted and by the time Sunday morning rolled around, I'm ashamed to say that I slept right through my alarm. We only had enough time for half of us to get dressed and get to church, so Towns and I went so I could teach our Sunday School class and Jonathan, Bethany and Cate stayed at home. After church I walk in to a spotless kitchen (it was a wreck since I flew out the door in a hurry for church and didn't have time to clean up after breakfast). The sweet child had scrubbed the countertops, swept the floor, and gotten down on her hands and knees to mop. Have you ever??!! Not only did I have a clean kitchen, but she'd also cleaned up Towns' room that looked like a tornado had blown through. That afternoon she put Cate in the Baby Bjorn and kept her entertained for a while (if you know Bug, you know that it takes a lot to keep her occupied). And did I mention she was a champ and played with Towns like it was her job?? You're THE BEST BBMac!! I owe you big time!

Towns, Take 3....

The last of my favorite pics....can you tell I'm in a very reminiscent and sentimental mood?!

Happy Birthday Towns, Take 2!

I couldn't fit all of my favorite pictures into one slideshow, so this is slideshow #2. The 3rd one is on the way! I love this girl way too much!!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Towns!

This 3rd birthday of Towns' is bittersweet for me. I was fine with the 1st birthday and then the 2nd. But for some reason the 3rd birthday makes me feel like she's not a baby anymore! She's always been an independent little thing, but even more so now that she's getting older. Towns single-handedly changed my life forever....I just thought I knew what love was. Then she came along and I've never been the same since! I love this kid more than life itself and I can't imagine what I ever did without her! Happy birthday, Townsy!!!! I LOVE YOU!

Her Future's So Bright...

Happy 7 Month Birthday, Bugaboo!!

This last month has really been a productive one for Cate! She's grown a ton over the last few weeks which makes me feel like she's finally a real baby. That sounds odd, I know. But until the last month or so she's been so tiny and fragile! And now she's finally growing and getting her own little personality. A very sassy one at that!! She's really thinking she's as big as Towns and tries to do everything her sister does. She's constantly babbling, and anything that her hands touch goes straight into her mouth! That's probably because she's been teething, but this week her two bottom teeth finally broke through. Hallelujah! She's been working on those suckers for a long time now! Her most favorite thing to do is to get up on all fours and rock back and forth like she wants to go so bad! It won't be long before she's majorly mobile. She can get where she wants to go by pulling herself with her arms, but I'm just waiting for her to figure out she can get there faster by crawling! She's already started realizing that she can pull up on anything as long as it's just the right height. It's unbelievable to think that those firsts steps really aren't that far away! I want to keep her little as long as I can!! I could squeeze her to pieces when she laughs...it's the sweetest sound in the world. Towns can make her laugh like crazy, and another thing that gets her every time is when I put baby lotion on her. I haven't a clue why that's so funny, but I love how tickled she gets. She's at a stage right now where she loves to be held tight and given lots o' kisses...so that pretty much sums up what I do all day long with her! AND I LOVE IT!!! She really is a funny thing at such a young age. What makes me laugh the most is that she'll wait until she's got your full attention and then put on a show...it doesn't matter what she's doing at the time, as long as you're watching her she's going to do it BIG! The girl loves an audience!

This first picture is of Cate on her pink hippo (she should thank Towns for the hand-me-down!) and the second picture is of Towns right about the same age laying on it too. Sweet, sweet, sweet!