Papaw

For those of you who know me pretty well, you know that February of 2010 was a very bittersweet month for me.  I got to marry my best friend and celebrate that with both our families and our close friends which was amazing.  We took our honeymoon to Disney World (and Matt got to experience it for the first time).  While we were there, however, my grandfather passed away. 

He had open heart surgery a few months before and had came through it really well.  The surgeon even told us that his heart came back like an 18 year old kid.  At first, Papaw had a great attitude and was prepared to work hard.  He was released out of the hospital into the care of a nursing home on the mountain to help him get back to his normal self.  Things didn't go as well or as quickly as he thought and he got very frustrated.  He couldn't walk or even get out of bed somedays and for a very independent man, this was heartbreaking for him.  Then we got the news that he had contracted MRSA.  After that, things went downhill pretty quickly. 

He was not able to go to my wedding, but I went to see him the day before and my grandmother went to see him right after.  She showed off her brand new outfit and told him all about it.  That was on Saturday.  He started getting much worse the day after that.

We called home almost everyday while we were gone, just to tell our families what we had done and share our experiences.  For some reason, Wednesday, we didn't call home.  Looking back, I have to wonder if God was just looking out for me that day.  When I called Thursday, my mom said "are you back at the room?".  I immediately knew something was wrong.  She said, "I have some bad news" and I knew he was gone.  We had plans to go back to the park and see some fireworks that night, but needless to say, I was a wreck and we didn't.  Matt was amazing.  He went to the food court at the resort and brought us back a pizza and held me while I cried.  After I cried for a few hours, I realized how mad Papaw would have been at me if he had known I was spending my honeymoon crying for him.  I mean he would have been FURIOUS.  He was an incredibly selfless man.  I made the decision to put it in a drawer and deal with it when we got back, and I did a pretty good job.  I hope he would have been proud. 

My Papaw was an amazing man.  He loved Kentucky basketball and Tennessee football with all his heart, and I have inherited both those traits.  When Kentucky lost their final game in the NCAA tournament last year, I cried.  It would have been so fitting if they had won it all.  I still miss him every day.  I'll be in Disney World again on the anniversary of his death and it will be hard to be in a magical Disney mood, but I know that's what he will want.

Papaw, I love you and I miss you so much, but I know you're with God and so much happier, and not in any pain.  For that I thank God.  This picture was taken in December of 2007 and it's my favorite of us.

I LOVE YOU PAPAW!!!!

More Disney

This one is going to be mostly pictures.  These are all from our Honeymoon, but since we are going back in LESS THAN 3 WEEKS, I've pretty much got Disney on my brain 24/7!  Hope you enjoy!

This was during our character breakfast at Chef Mickey's.  Minnie made a huge fuss over my rings.  Even though we were two grown-ups, the characters spent as much time at our table as they did with the little kids. 

The sweetest people sitting next to us took this picture.  I wish I had more because Pluto took Matt over to an empty table and sat him down then got down on one knee and took my hand!  So cute!  The couple next to us had brought their baby and his grandmother.  The grandmother took our picture also and her daughter said "MOM!  You can't just take their picture!" and she repsonded "But they're so cute!".  Obviously, we told her it was fine that she took our picture!  It's one of my fondest memories from our trip!

We got a special cupcake because we were celebrating our Honeymoon.  We didn't eat it because a. it was breakfast, and b. we were STUFFED!

Park opening at Hollywood Studios.  Matt was giving all the cast members high fives.  And lots of them had on Mickey hands!  So fun!

Me with the Patch statue at Downtown Disney...I can't actually remember which store it was in.  But I do notice that I have 2 shopping bags in my hand :)

Matt at EPCOT for the first time.  This is ia classic picture.  It almost makes me cry!

Me putting money into the Cinderella Wishing well at Magic Kingdom.  This is the only place where Disney actually collects the money.  Everywhere else, the coins are left much longer and the money is not longer usable.  The money from the fountain, however, is collected and given to children's charities.

This may be my favorite picture of all.  It sums up how COLD it was during our trip.  We were on Dumbo and I was so cold that I couldn't stand the wind on my face...and being that I had almost my entire face covered, I had no idea Matt took this picture!

Well that's all for today.  I'm sure I'll have more Disney magic to share will you since I'm quite consumed by it at the moment!

New Year, New Goals

Oh New Year's Resolutions.  I usually don't make any because I find that I almost immediately stop trying to realize them.  This year, however, there are some things I would like to change and actually committ to.  Matt and I have both gained a significant amount of weight since we have been together.  We are both unhappy with it and would like to make it go away! 

So my goals for this month are:

1. Make my lunch and bring it to work at least 3 times a week. (I'd like to do it everyday, but I feel like I need to be realistic or I won't do it at all)

2. Start Couch to 5K program.  I really like the sound of this program because it lets you go at your own pace.  I am not really a fan of exercising, so having Matt do it with me will help motivate me.

3. Use the Kinect and play Dance Central 3 times a week for at least 20 minutes.  I LOVE to dance.  And I don't care if I look stupid, and I LOVE Dance Central.  This one should be easy for me!

I have some "Disney" goals as I like to call them.  Really they are just things that I want/need to be accomplished before we leave (IN LESS THAN 3 WEEKS!!!!)

1. Clean out trunk.  I don't even open my trunk because it is so full of junk.  Seriously.  There is probably stuff that has been in there for years!  Who knows what I might find!

2. Clean out car.  I have this HORRIBLE habit of living in my car.  I have clothes, shoes, shopping bags, etc.  I actually even have a pair of pink, fuzzy, slippers in the floor of the passenger side.  AHH! 

3. Get all laundry for trip done at least a week ahead of time (because it will make my life MUCH easier!)j

Well I think that's all the goals for this month.  There are lots of things I'd like to get done around the house this year, but since we have a vacation coming up, I'm not really worrying about them right now. 

Oh wait, one more goal.  Take down the Christmas garland outside.  This has not been done, not for lack of motivation but because of all the SNOW!  I don't want to put away WET garland.  Ew!  But hopefully soon we can take it down.  Half of it is now not working so if I have to throw it away I guess it won't be the end of the world, but still!

Snow Day January 10, 2011

I thought we had a lot of snow on Christmas, but then I woke up yesterday morning and we had EVEN MORE!

This was on Christmas Day....

This was yesterday! 

Now I love snow, I think it's beautiful and wonderful.  I do not, however, like being stuck at home!  I didn't go to work yesterday and I can't go today either.  So we're hoping my dad can bring us a snow shovel (we had no idea we would need such a thing), so that we can shovel our cars out! 

The Most Magical Place On Earth

Walt Disney World. 

It truly is the most magical place on Earth for me.  (Just for a bit of Disney trivia in case anyone is a Disney nut like me, Disney WORLD is "the most magical place on Earth", whereas DisneyLAND is "the happiest place on Earth")  There is something so amazing to me about this place.  I love every single moment I'm there.  I can't really explain how much I love it.  I'm going to try to write a series of blogs about it, but for now, I'll just show some of my favorite pictures from our honeymoon there February 2010.

At the Magic Kingdom.  This (as are all the other pictures in this blog) is a Disney PhotoPass picture.  We bought the Photopass CD which gave us all the pictures that the photographers, who are all around the parks, took and the rights to all the photos.  To us, for our honeymoon, it was TOTALLY worth it!

At Epcot.  This is a TERRIBLE picture of me, and not a super great one of Matt, but SpaceShip Earth just looked so beautiful at night, I made Matt stop.  I think this was the day it rained and was INCREDIBLY cold and I was wearing capri pants under sweatpants and 3 jackets!

In front of the Rockin' Roller Coaster.  The lady who took this picture was so much fun!  I added Stitch because I thought it was quite fitting :)

This was taken at Animal Kingdom.  Simba was added in by the Photopass photographer later.  I had heard about these pictures, and had read that it was pretty rare that they did them anymore, so I was SO excited that someone would congratulate us on our marriage this way.  Matt and I ADORE this picture!

Well that's all the Disney I have today.  Don't worry, I'm a Disney freak, so there will be SO much more!

Oh yeah, and we're going back in 27 days...YES!

Rocky Top will ALWAYS be home sweet home to me!

Since it's January 1, 2011 (FINALLY!) and football is ALL over the place, I'm going to write about one of my passions!  I know Tennessee played a couple of days ago (and had ANOTHER win stolen), but since there is SO much football on, I'm reminded of MY team!

I love Tennessee football!  I mean LOVE it.  To the extent that most of my friends don't even ask me to make plans when a game is on because they just know better!  Love as in I have bought special clothing in orange and white just to wear to work the Friday before a game.  Love like I own 3 jerseys and about a million t-shirts and sweatshirts.  Love so much that my mother buys me at least one Tennessee stocking stuff EVERY year!  And that I have a Christmas tree dedicated to it (although a few other teams are represented as well: The Colts, Titans, and Cowboys, as well as Tony Stewart).  That's how much I love it!

I will love them forever.  I do not care if we have 15 losing seasons in a row (although hopefully that will not ever happen!).  I will still wear my orange out in public proudly and I will still scream my head off during every play.  It's just a part of who I am!

I guess I have to address the Lane Kiffin debacle too.  I hated him before he left.  I thought he was a horrible fit at Tennessee and I missed Phil Fulmer immediately (truthfully I thought the was he was booted out was distasteful to begin with).  I never got on the "Lane Train" and I'm so glad, because even though it made me mad when he left us in a lurch, I wasn't nearly as hurt and betrayed as some people were.  I still rooted for Tennessee, but I was glad when he left!

Now on to the future.  I think Derrick Dooley is a wonderful fit for Tennessee.  He is young, which was one good thing about Kiffin.  He can make a career as a Tennessee head football coach.  Also he was born and bred in the south and has a wonderful pedigree in the SEC.  I mean Vince Dooley is his daddy!  One thing that really drove me crazy about Kiffin was how he ran his mouth SO much.  Dooley understands how we play ball in the South and how to conduct himself.  So I see GREAT things coming for Tennessee in the next few years and I CAN'T WAIT!!! 

I'll leave you with some pictures showing my love!

My first game!  I was 18!  With me are Alex, Joan, and Katie.  We had a blast!

Alex and I at Qdoba.  I'm not totally certain what year this was but I was going to UTC and it must have been on a Friday.  While I was at UTC I always wore a TN tshirt Thursday, my white jersey on Friday, and my orange jersey on Saturdays.  Sad but true!

Joan and I.  I know this was at Applebee's and I know it was the first game of the season for what ever year this was.  Notice how faded that jersey is, I think I got a new one shortly after.

Matt and I before the Florida game last year.  We watch it at the lake every year with our family friends Bill and Jean, who are big Florida fans and have the boat next to my parents' boat.  So much fun!

GO VOLS!!!!