Virginia Tech vs Alabama ~ Chik-Fil-A Kickoff Classic

The college football season has officially made it's debut for the 2009 season. My best friend, and former freshman year of college roommate, Lindsay and I are die hard Hokie fans and are ALWAYS willing to travel the country to show our Hokie Pride. This year, Virginia Tech had the honor of playing Alabama in the official Chik-Fil-A Kickoff Classic in Atlanta, GA.

Lindsay and I flew out of Reagan National airport Friday night and arrived in Atlanta around 10:30pm. One of my best high school friends had a good family friend who lived in Atlanta and had offered to put us up for the weekend. Mary and her boyfriend picked us up from the airport and showed us to our home for the weekend. They were both so sweet to offer us a place to stay, a bed to sleep in, and a key to come and go as we please! We visited with them at their apartment and then headed to bed early to rest up for Saturday.

Saturday morning, we woke up early, showered and put on all the VT apparel we own. We headed out to find a Starbucks and some breakfast at the CNN building in downtown Atlanta. After breakfast, we headed to a bar called Ted's for some early tailgating. Here we are getting the day started.
After, we headed to find some fellow Hokie die hards at their tailgate. We spent most of the afternoon visiting with friends and anticipating the kickoff of our first game of the season! I was so glad that our friends were willing to make the trip right along with us to support our Hokies.
At about 5:30, we began to head towards the Georgia Dome to stop by and visit a few more friends before heading into the game. I was so excited to meet up with one of my former roommates from VT, Bethany. Bethany and her husband, Kawika, live in Florida so I rarely get the opportunity to see them. In fact, the last time I saw them was at their wedding last summer! It was so great to catch up and relive some college memories in Atlanta.
Finally, it was game time. We headed into the Georgia Dome to jump for Enter Sandman, lose our voices to support our defense, and cheer as loud as we could! It was a great game. Our Hokies gave it their all. Our defense left it all out on the field, shutting down Alabama's best receiver, getting the best of their QB, and forcing crucial turnovers. Our special teams returned a kick-off for a touchdown, and held their incredibly talented return man to very few yards. Unfortunately, as has been in the case in the past several years, our offense couldn't put together enough scoring drives and our Hokies came up short. Alabama won 34-24 :(

It was a great game by all. Alabama was the better team on this night and looks to have a great season ahead, so far living up to their #5 ranking in the country. Despite the loss, I am so proud to be Hokie and proud of the heart our boys played with on this night. No analysts, commentators, or other fans gave Virginia Tech any chance to win this game... but we fought hard and were in it every step of the game. It hurts to lose such an important game after such a great fight, but I am once again, SO proud to be a Hokie.

Here's to winning out the rest of the 2009 season in what I can only hope turns out to be a GREAT season for my Virginia Tech Hokies. Hoping to travel to a BIG BOWL GAME in January!

Kenny Chesney

One last hurrah for my cowboy boots! Last Saturday, August 29th, a fabulous group of friends and I traveled once again to Nissan Pavilion for our last country concert of the summer. It also happened to be my last outing before officially reporting back to school. We had a great time eating good food, having a few beverages, hanging out with good friends and listening to awesome music! I was so excited to see so many of my friends at this concert. I had friends from college come tailgate, friends from high school, and new friends from my new home in Centreville come hang out. It was a great blending of friends and a good time had by all. I am officially putting my cowboy boots away until next summer, but here's one last YEEEE HAW to wrap the summer up, Kenny-style...Andy and I

Julie, my college roommate, her boyfriend Steve, and Jeff

Highschool Friends- RJ & Paul

Singing along with Kenny Chesney!

Red Door Spa

Ahhhhhh. Those three little words mean so much more to me after today. Today was my last official day of summer before the 2009-2010 school year commences bright and early Monday morning. And let me tell you, I enjoyed it in grand fashion!

For my 25th birthday this past May, Andy gave me a fabulous gift certificate to the Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spa. Now, I am not a regular spa-visiting kind of gal. I have had only 1 official massage in my 25 years. I was much younger, 12? 13?, and my mom and I decided to splurge and treat ourselves to poolside massages on our vacation to Cancun, Mexico. I do get pedicures about once a month or so during the summertime... much less frequently throughout the colder months. I used to get acrylic nails filled for many years, and now that I have FINALLY grown out my real nails after 25 years of biting them, I get manicures to keep them pretty. But other than my nails, I don't really do that many "self treatments". That is until now.

Andy gifted me the signature escape spa package which included a 50 minute massage, signature manicure & pedicure, and a make-up refresher. Wow! I arrived at the spa at 8:45am, slipped into my comfy robe and slippers and awaited my fabulous day of pampering!

If you have never had a true spa experience, please treat yourself! Especially my teacher friends! I have a very strong feeling that I will be requesting gift certificates to the Red Door Spa much more frequently now that I have experienced the utmost in relaxation :) Thank you Andy!

Sweet Six

This past Friday, August 14th, officially marked me and Andy's 6 year anniversary. We have been through A LOT together in those 6 years. We began dating the summer prior to my sophomore year of college and as they say... the rest is history :) We survived 4 years of long distance as I finished both my undergraduate degree and master's program at Virginia Tech and Andy completed his undergraduate and master's programs at Clemson. 2 years ago, we finally got the opportunity to live in the same area for more than 2 months at a time! This past fall, we boldly decided we liked each other enough to move into a beautiful two-story condominium together out in Centreville, closer to both of our jobs. So far, so good! :)

Andy truly is my best friend in the whole world. No one can make me smile like he does, or make me as mad as he does sometimes! Whether I've had a great day or a terrible day, it is such a comfort to know that I have him to come home to, to vent to, and to support me. Sure we have our fair share of arguments and issues, but there is really no one else I would want to disagree with more than him :) He makes every part of MY life a little more special, a little more fun. I am truly looking forward to what the future holds for the two of us!

Michael Vick

This is quite the controversial subject, particularly today of all day's as I sit watching the Philadelphia Eagles press conference as they introduce Michael Vick to their 2009-2010 football roster. There are a lot of strong opinions out there regarding Michael Vick and all of them are very valid. My opinions on the subject may differ from others, but it is just my opinion. I neither declare that it is right or wrong, just how I feel and I believe there is never anything wrong with how a person feels. So here goes...

As a Virginia Tech Hokie, I have a bias towards all former Hokie athletes, including Michael Vick. And while it may partially be a reason that I support him it certainly is not the only reason. I agree with everyone in that his crimes were heinous, unethical, and disappointing. I fully agreed with the prison sentence, home arrest, and community service sentences. And I feel that he has successfully completed the terms of his sentencing.

With that being said, I do not support Michael Vick's prior actions. But I do fully support him being given a legitimate second chance to prove himself to not only us football fans, the common American, but to his family, friends and ultimately himself. I am a Dallas Cowboys fan and have in the past had very minimal respect for the Philadelphia Eagles organization, a divisional foe and rival to my Cowboys. I find their fans to be obnoxious and often crude, I find their players to be callous and dirty. But today, I have a new found respect for the Eagles. Any organization in the NFL willing and ready to stick their neck out to give Michael Vick, or anyone with this much controversy, a second chance deserves some respect. The media, the fans, the protesters are going to have a field-day in Philadelphia this season, no question about it. Subjecting a team, or on a larger scale an entire city to that level of scrutiny takes some guts. I believe Michael Vick deserves a second chance to correct his mistakes and turn his life around. I am glad to see the Philadelphia Eagles feel the same way.

Good luck Michael Vick. For whatever reason, you have been granted with a second chance in life. I truly hope you take full advantage of this opportunity and show with your actions, not your words, that you are a changed man. Let the comeback begin...

Here's to Football!

Here's to championship seasons, no serious injuries, lots of cheers and very few tears!

GO HOKIES!!!

GO COWBOYS!!!

Hungry!

One of my goals this summer was to try new recipes and acquire some new cooking skills. I have enjoyed searching through cookbooks and finding new delicious meals to try. Andy has certainly enjoyed my learning experiences this summer as he has gotten to be my official test-taster... although it is a slightly risky job!

As summer comes to an end and fall rapidly approaches, I am struggling to be creative! I would love some new ideas for fall dishes like delicious casseroles, easy to prep meals, and fun football snacks! Here are two cookbooks I'd like to peruse for some ideas. I absolutely LOVE the Gooseberry Patch cookbooks. I currently have several and think they have some great, simple ideas for delicious dinners!

If anyone has any delicious recipes that they'd like to share, please please feel free to leave it in a comment! I'm not sure how many people actually even read this blog, but I would love some fresh ideas for in the kitchen :) Happy Almost-Fall!